Pirates take home four wins at Cuesta tourney
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast (1-0) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
|
Cuesta (0-1) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The Orange Coast College men's water polo team picked up four wins out of four matches at the Cuesta College Men's Water Polo Tournament this past weekend, including a key victory against the host Cougars in the finale.
After earning wins over Cabrillo (23-3), Modesto (15-7) and American River (12-8), the Pirates took on the host Cougars and pulled off the hard-fought win, 12-9.
With the score tied at 5 after the first half, Coast (11-5 overall) jumped out to an 8-5 lead with a pair of goals by Carmelo Bangs and a goal from Cade Zeilinger.
Cuesta (7-5) closed the lead to 8-7 after back-to-back tallies by Matthew Wheeler and Oliver Finley, but, OCC started strong in the fourth quarter with a pair of goals from Sam Brooks and Jason Honey.
Again, the Cougars made it interesting when goals by Johnny Starr and Ryan Scott pulled the hosts to within a goal again at 10-9.
However, the Pirates managed to hold the Cougars off of the scoreboard the rest of the way and goals by Brooks and Honey down the stretch gave Coast the insurance goals needed to preserve the win.
In goal, Ryan Christenot came up big for Coast and earned the with with seven saves.
Against Cabrillo, Colten Bresciani led the way for Coast with six goals, while Brooks and Beau Bradley each had three. Goalie Anderson Crane held Cabrillo to just three goals and had three saves in the win.
Bradley was the leading goal-scorer against Modesto with three, while Zeilinger, Otis McAdams, Brenden Bellavia and Sawyer McCormick each added two.
Jackson Steele led the Pirates in their win over ARC with three goals, while Brooks and Dylan Morris each notched two goals.
The Pirates will return to Orange Empire Conference play on Wednesday at Saddleback College, beginning at 4:15 p.m. OCC will host its annual Alumni Night match on Friday at 7 p.m.
