Pirates End Season in WSC Tournament

The Ventura College men's water polo team saw their season come to an end Wednesday in the first round of the Western State Conference Tournament. The No. 4-seeded Pirates dropped a 10-7 decision to No. 5 Santa Monica at the Ventura Aquatic Center in a play-in game with the winner advancing to take on No. 1 LA Valley Thursday. Cole Morter and Ryan Reardon each had two goals to lead VC (9-17, 1-4) in the game.

After falling behind 1-0 Tanner Islander and Justin Bouse each netted scores to put the Pirates ahead 2-1.  They bulit their advantage to 4-2 with goals by Jarett Baldwin and Cole Morter, and VC led 4-3 at the quarter break. In the second period, Reardon scored to extend the lead to 5-3 before the Corsairs closed the gap to 5-4 at halftime.

The third period belonged to Santa Monica as they outscored VC 3-0 to take a 7-5 lead into the final stanza. In the fourth quarter, Morter scored with 4:47 left in the game, and Reardon tied the score at 7-7 with a goal at the 2:35 mark.  But SMC responded with goals on their next two possessions, and they added a score on the final possession of the game for good measure to set the margin at 10-7.

Reardon had a pair of scores with three steals and one drawn exclusion while Morter scored twice with four exclusions, one assist and one steal. Islander had a goal with two helpers and two thefts and Baldwin had a goal with two assists. Justin Bouse also had a single score, one assist, one drawn exclusion and one steal. Dalton Esrofani recorded 10 saves in the cage for VC.