Pirates Edged By Vaqueros in Battle for WSC's Top Spot

In a battle for first place in the Western State Conference standings, the Pirates' women's water polo team dropped a narrow 12-11 decision to Santa Barbara Wednesday at the Ventura Aquatic Center. Ava Carey had an outstanding day in the cage with 10 saves, including four on 5m shots while AnnMarie Patterson paced the offensive attack with seven goals and five drawn exclusions for Ventura (13-8, 3-1).

The Pirates got the early jump on SBCC when Ella Montano scored on the first possession of the game. The Vaqueros came back strong, however, scoring the next five goals before Patterson's score with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter made it 5-2.

Santa Barbara netted two more goals before Patterson found the inside of the cage twice in the final 3:56 of the first half as VC trailed 7-4 at intermission.

The teams traded goals in the third period with Patterson answering a pair of SBCC goals before the Vaqueros opened a 10-6 lead at the end of the stanza.

The Vaqueros scored early in the final quarter to make it 11-6, and Patterson answered with a score at the 3:33 mark to make it 11-7. Santa Barbara scored on the next trip down the pool for a 12-7 margin setting up a furious VC comeback. Milla Malesich netted a goal at the 2:49 mark and Montano followed with a scores 20 with 2:24 and :56 on the clock, respectively, to pull Ventura to within 12-10. Patterson found the inside of the cage with 18 seconds remaining to close the margin to a single goal, but the Pirates could get no closer.

Montano ended the game with three goals and Kelsee Espitia handed out four assists. Malesich contributed three drawn exclusions to the effort to go along with two assists and Caitlyn Hilgenberg also dropped  a pair of dimes. 

VC next travels to the Battle at the Beach hosted by Long Beach City and Cypress, beginning the bracket on Friday Oct. 25 against Orange Coast at 11:30 am.