MEN'S WATER POLO: Traveling to the Golden West Mini Tournament in Huntington Beach, the Pirates' men's water polo team opened the 2013 season with a split in a pair of matches Friday. Ventura lost to the defending state champion hosts 20-3 in the opener before rebounding to defeat Palomar 10-8 in the nightcap. The win was VC's first under new head coach Tim Settem. Sean McGee had 31 saves in the two matches to lead the way for VC (1-1).
Ventura 3, Golden West 20
The Pirates struggled to find any offense in the opener against the state's top-ranked team. Tim Allen scored two goals for the Pirates and McGee recorded 14 saves against the Rustlers.
Ventura 10, Palomar 8
Ventura rebounded to take the second match of the day 10-8 against the Comets. McGee was solid in goal once again with 17 saves while Nick Miranda led the offense with four scores.
The Pirates will travel to Cerritos on Friday Sept. 13 to take on the Falcons before heading north to San Luis Obispo and the Cuesta Invitational the following weekend.