Pirates fight back to earn tie with Huskies

COSTA MESA -- A not-so-fortunate start was capped off with a solid finish as the Orange Coast College men's soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-2 tie with visiting East Los Angeles College on Wednesday night inside LeBard Stadium.

Things looked rather bleak early on as the Huskies (2-0-2) took advantage of a couple of costly turnovers near the OCC goal. ELAC didn't miss either opportunity as the Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Goals by Jovana Rueda (25th minute) and Antonhy Flores (34th minute) put the guests up late in the first half.

But, the Pirates (1-1-1) used an ELAC defensive miscue of its own and converted as Bram Fraser picked up the misplayed ball and buried a shot into the back of the net, cutting the deficit in half in the 37th minute.

That goal gave life and energy to the Pirates and they carried the juice into the second half with several scoring chances on ELAC goalkeeper Angel Martinez.

Finally, in the 64th minute, Luca Petruolo chipped a short pass to teammate Lucas Fiche, who went high and tucked his shot under the crossbar to even the score at 2.

ELAC found some life late in the second half and had a pair of golden opportunities, but OCC goalkeeper Kotaro Kobayashi came up with two big saves. With six minutes left and an OCC foul called just outside the penalty area, ELAC's Vitor Matias tried to pick the upper-right corner of the net, but Kobayashi stretched out and knocked the ball out of danger to keep the match tied at 2.

One final chance for the Pirates came at the 88th minute when Tai Khoshkbariie nearly deflected a shot into the net, but the ball banked off of the right goalpost. A few minutes later, both teams walked off the field with the 2-2 result.

Kobayashi finished with eight saves for OCC, while Martinez earned four saves for the Huskies.

Coast will return to action on Friday, Sept. 12 inside the OCC Soccer Complex against Pasadena City College, beginning at 3 p.m.