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Pirates top Sierra to advance to State Semifinals
LONG BEACH -- A strong fourth-quarter proved to be the difference-maker for the Orange Coast College men's water polo team as the Pirates topped Sierra, 17-12, in the quarterfinals of the 3C2A Men's Water Polo State Championships on Thursday at Long Beach City College.
With the win, the Pirates (22-13) advance to Friday's semifinals, where they will take on West Valley today at 2:15 p.m. at LBCC.
Things looked shaky midway through the third quarter when the Pirates saw themselves trailing the Wolverines (12-15), 11-9.
But over the final 3:19 of the third period, Coast scored the final three goals to grab a 12-11 advantage, thanks to two tallies from Cade Zeilinger and one from Brenden Bellavia.
That momentum carried into the fourth quarter as OCC scored the first three goals with two coming from Sawyer McCormick and one from Jason Honey, with Sam Brooks assisting on two of them.
Sierra was held without a goal for a span of over 10 minutes of gametime before finally finding the back of the net with 1:29 remaining to cut OCC's lead to three at 15-12.
But the Pirates held on from there, using goals by Carmelo Bangs and McCormick to ice the game in the final seconds.
McCormick led the Coast offense with eight goals, while Zeilinger added five. In goal, Roman Christenot was outstanding in the second half and notched eight saves in the victory.
Today's opponents, West Valley, enter today's contest with a record of 29-5 and the Vikings were winners of Northern California's Coast Conference at 5-0. West Valley advanced to Friday's semifinal matchup after topping L.A. Valley, 18-11, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
In spite of being 386 miles away from OCC, these two programs have actually met twice this season, with WVC winning both contests. The Vikings topped the Pirates, 19-13 on Sept. 20 at the Mt. San Antonio College Tournament and 15-13 on Oct. 19 at the Long Beach City Mini-Tournament.