Orange Coast Opens Regional Soccer Play Today

The Orange Coast College men’s soccer team hit a flat spot early in the season, but has since developed into one of the best community college teams in the state.

The Pirates, the Orange Empire Conference champions, begin play today in the Southern California Regionals. They play host to Moorpark in a 2 p.m. match.

The winner advances to the regional final Saturday against the winner of today’s Glendale-East Los Angeles match.

But there is another problem facing the Pirates today--the health of forward Andy Strouse, the conference’s most valuable player. Strouse, a freshman from Edison High School, scored 19 goals to help Orange Coast to a 14-4-2 overall record.

He played all season with a sore left arm, and three weeks ago ligament damage was discovered. He had surgery two weeks ago and is questionable--at best--for today’s match.

“Andy was a big key to this team and we rely on him,” Coach Laird Hayes said. “But if he can’t go, then we’ll just adjust. We have some other fine players as well.”

Paul Oldham, who scored a team-high 20 goals, was a member of the all-conference first team, as were teammates Rich Pethigal, Shaun Jarrard and Mike Sandel.

Orange Coast went 6-3-1 in nonconference play, losing two consecutive matches. But the Pirates finished 8-1-1 in the conference.

Orange Coast has allowed only 11 goals in its past 10 matches.