SANTA ANA, Calif. - With a 3-1 win over the Orange Coast Pirates (6-9-4, 2-7-3) on Friday afternoon, the Santa Ana Men's Soccer team secured their 27th Orange Empire Conference Championship.

Right from the start, the Dons established themselves as the aggressors as they took five shots and earned four corner kicks in the first half to put the pressure on the Pirate defense.

In just the eighth minute of the match, Julian Cardenas scored on a pass from Joshua Lezama to give the Dons an early lead. 

20 minutes later, the Dons extended their lead with another goal, this time by Omar Rodriguez who scored on a pass from Porfirio Sandoval. 

And at the 36 minute mark Josue Martinez connected with Rodriguez for yet another goal to seemingly put the game away before the break.

OCC managed to get one back, scoring one in with about 16 minutes left but the Dons held on to finish on top.

The Dons ended the 2021 regular season with a record of 9-5-6, 6-2-4 to tie with the Golden West Rustlers at the top of the standings. 

Santa Ana will now prepare for the CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoffs which begins this Saturday, November 20th. The Dons will be the No. 8 seed and with host No. 9 Irvine Valley at 11:00 a.m. in an OEC rematch to advance. 

The season series record between these two teams is 1-1 with SAC defeating the Lasers 3-1 back on October 15th and IVC getting a late goal to win 1-0 on November 9th. 

Ticket prices are determined by CCCAA and included below:

$12.00 - Adult  

$8.00 - Students, faculty, staff, senior citizens 60 years and over, and children less than 12 years of age.