Gauchos find treasures against Pirates

The Saddleback women's soccer team won its second straight game with a 5-0 victory over Orange Coast College on Tuesday at the Great Park in Irvine.  The Gauchos moved up a spot in the Orange Empire Conference standings with the win.

Saddleback was coming off an energized win against Fullerton last Friday and carried the momentum into the game on Tuesday.  The Gauchos dominated from start-to-finish and improved to 3-1-2 over the past five games. 

Saddleback scored in the 30^th minute when Paige Vitolo connected off a sensational feed from Maliyah Medley for a 1-0 lead.  It was Vitolo's team-leading eighth goal of the season and set the tenor for the remainder of the game.

Saddleback came out hot in the second half, scoring four more goals over a 27-minute span.  Abby Hazen took a pass from Medley and scored in the 50^th minute for a 2-0 lead.  Medley then scored her own goal off a pass from Hazen in the 61^st minute as the Gauchos took a commanding 3-0 lead.  Two minutes later, Madeline Metzdorff took a rebound off the crossbar and steered it into the net for a 4-0 lead.  Nina Ferreira then finished off the scoring with a powerful shot from 30-yards away after Orange Coast had committed a foul, making it 5-0 in the 76^th minute.  

Saddleback outshot Orange Coast 25-5 for the game and the defense never allowed a shot on goal from the Pirate offense.  Taylor Gayer played the first 65 minutes in goal before giving way to Lehar Chawla.

With the win, Saddleback (5-3-3, 2-1-2) passed Orange Coast (5-7-1, 2-3) in the Orange Empire Conference standings and now sits in fourth place in the OEC.   The Gauchos will try to earn a third straight win when they travel to Irvine Valley College (4-7-2, 1-4) on Friday to play the Lasers.   Saddleback and IVC are scheduled to start at 3:00 PM.