Santiago Canyon College Wins Ninth Straight OEC Title

Once again, the Santiago Canyon College women's soccer team found itself at the top of the standings as the 2012 regular season came to an end. The Hawks used their 15-0-1 conference in Orange Empire Conference play to claim their ninth-straight OEC title.

It seemed fitting that the only blemish on their record was a 2-2 tie with Cypress College as the Chargers are the only other team to win a conference championship in the past nine years. Cypress shared the OEC title with the Hawks in 2008 and 2004.

Taking second place this season was Orange Coast College after the Pirates split their season series with the Chargers, helping them to a 13-3-0 conference record. The Pirates edged the Chargers by just one point in the conference standings as Cypress took third.

The Pirates only losses came against Cypress and Santiago Canyon (twice) while the Chargers were hurt by a scoreless tie with Golden West College late in the season. That game proved to be the difference in the standings.

That same Golden West team followed Cypress in the standings in fourth place, ahead of the Norco College team that took fifth place in its first season in the OEC.

The fifth and sixth place teams, Saddleback College and Santa Ana College respectively, were led by new head coaches this season. BJ McNicol led the Gauchos to a fifth place finish in his first season, an improvement as Saddleback finished in eighth place just a year ago. The Dons, now led by Jessica Rapoza and Jose Vasquez, stayed put as they finished in sixth place last season as well.

Rounding out the standings was Fullerton College in seventh place and Irvine Valley College in eighth place.