Pirates capture two wins on Day 1 of OCC Tournament

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's water polo team took care of business on Day 1 of the OCC Tournament with a pair of wins over Citrus (20-12) and Long Beach City (9-8) on Friday.

In the opener against the Owls, it was smooth sailing for the host Pirates as they jumped out to a 12-0 advantage through the majority of the first half and never looked back.

Grace Brossa, Destiny Hernandez, Jillian Duwe and Natalia Standard each had three goals to lead the well-balanced Pirate offensive attack, while Elizabeth Wilkinson added a pair of goals. 

That was more than enough for the goalie tandem of Annabelle Sherman (three goals allowed, six saves) and Isabella Goodrow (nine goals allowed, six saves), who kept the Owls at bay and helped preserve the win for OCC.

It was a much tighter matchup in the afternoon contest against the LBCC Vikings. Coast lead throughout the first half and through most of the third quarter before the Vikings turned a 7-4 advantage into an 8-7 lead, thanks in large part to three straight goals by center Chayma Hlanadif. the 6-1 sophomore finished with five goals for the match, but was held off of the scoreboard the rest of the way after that three-goal barrage. 

In the fourth, OCC tied things up at 8 when Destiny Hernandez scored on a 5-meter shot with 5:53 remaining. 

Both teams had chances to take the lead over the next several minutes, but were denied, before Jillian Duwe took a pass from Ella Wisdom and managed to sneak a deflected shot just over the goal line with 1:26 remaining to put Coast ahead, 9-8.

Long Beach had a pair of possessions to tie things up, but were called for fouls on the offensive end, giving possession back to the Pirates. The Vikings had one final shot attempt at the buzzer, but it rang off of the crossbar as time expired.

Ana Nardelli had three goals to lead the offense for OCC, while Duwe and Hernandez each had two. Sherman played all four quarters and was a huge factor in the win with several big stops down the stretch. She finished with 12 saves against the Vikings.

OCC will return to action early Saturday morning with a rivalry matchup with conference rival, Fullerton College, beginning at 7:30 a.m. The Pirates will return to the pool in the afternoon session against Sierra College at 1:45 p.m.