In what was an overall difficult day for the Hornets women’s water polo team, they lost to Orange Coast College by a final score of 16-6 on Sept. 27.
The team adds another loss to their record, dropping them to 6-5, making them 1-4 in their last five games.
“They took advantage of our mistakes and I think that set the momentum for the rest of the game. It was tough to come back from that,” said assistant coach Connie Wu.
From the start of the game, the Pirates got on the Hornets early with a quick goal in the first 30 seconds by sophomore Lilli Lindgard.
OCC’s offense didn’t slow down as they added to their lead with three goals in just a few minutes into the first quarter.
In almost an instant, Fullerton found themselves in a 4-0 hole early in the contest. This early deficit forced head-coach Gabriel Martinez to call a timeout and regroup.
Coming out of the timeout, sophomore utility player Veronica Ramirez scored and gave her team their first goal of the game.
After giving up the goal, the Pirates looked to get it back, but freshman Brooke Branum’s shot was blocked by freshman goalkeeper Kelly Medina, giving the ball back to Fullerton.
This change in possession gave Ramirez another scoring opportunity, one which she capitalized to cut her team’s deficit in half.
However, Ramirez’s two goals and another Fullerton score wouldn’t be enough to get them back into the game.
On defense, OCC locked down and forced turnovers from Fullerton. Using those turnovers, the Pirates found opportunities to score and built themselves a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“We didn’t execute our offensive game plan and we had a lot of turnovers in the first quarter which is what lead to Orange Coast stealing the ball and counter-attacking,” added Wu.
The second quarter for the Hornets was just as difficult as the first quarter. Being unable to leave their mistakes behind in the first quarter, Fullerton continued to struggle.
On offense Fullerton was unable to prevent turnovers, leading to OCC adding to their lead.
Freshman Bailey Lloyd and sophomore Shawna Kedzie had two goals of their own, building towards their teams’ 14-3 lead at the end of the half.
“We just need a little bit more practice when it comes to pressure passing and turning the ball over less,” said Freshman utility player Danessha Nolasco.
Needing to get their offense going fast, Fullerton came into the second half with some shot opportunities.
Sophomore utility players Ashley Garcia and Bianca Vera both saw scoring opportunities to open the second quarter but weren’t able to find the back of the net.
Defensively for Fullerton, they were able to hold the Pirates to two goals in the second half but were only able to score three goals of their own.
As the clock winded down and the Pirates controlled the ball, all Fullerton could do was watch the game clock hit zero on what was a tough game for them.
“We didn’t play our best, obviously, but hopefully down the line, we’ll work on things,” commented sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Tully.
This weekend the Hornets look to bounce back and get back on track amidst their five-game struggle. Friday they begin the Cuesta tournament with a game against Long Beach City College at 10:05 a.m.
