Buena’s Late Equalizer Grabs Warriors a Draw against Orange Coast in Season Opener

TORRANCE, Calif. – With time winding down in the season opener against Orange Coast College, Chandel Buena came through with late-game heroics for El Camino College as her goal in the 90th minute secured a 1-1 draw for the Warriors Tuesday afternoon at Murdock Stadium.

The Warriors (0-0-1) had just one shot on target for the match against the Pirates (0-1-1) but made it count as Buena found the back of the net off a pass from Kathryn Wilson to salvage a point for the Warriors in the season opener.

Goalkeeper Isabel Rojas was solid in net for ECC, making four saves on five shot attempts, three of those stops coming in the first half when the Pirates assaulted the Warriors defense with nine of their 12 shots.

The Pirates eventually solved Rojas in the 52nd minute as Haley Auer beat her defender in a one-on-one situation and tucked it past Rojas to the near post to put OCC up 1-0.

But the Warriors were a different team in the second half as they played much of the period on the offensive after backpedaling much of the first half. They fired off four of their five shots in the game in the final 45 minutes while allowing the Pirates just three attempts, two on target.

The Warriors will now hit the road on Friday afternoon as they take on Santa Monica College at 2 p.m.