A strong defensive effort helped the Pirates' men's water polo complete an undefeated weekend at the Citrus Tournament with victories over Fullerton and Chaffey, 8-5 and 10-3, respectively. Luis Galvez had 25 saves in goal with six steals in goal in the two matches to anchor the defense. VC (5-1) ends the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.
Ventura 8, Fullerton 5
VC turned a 3-3 score at halftime into a 7-3 advantage midway through the fourth quarter in their first game of the day. CJ Daland netted three goals with a drawn ejection offensively, and Coby Wiegman scored twice with two steals. Roger Escalante had a goal with two assists and Kyle Goodrich handed out three assists while grabbing three steals. Kevin Smallwood had a strong defensive effort with four steals and the Pirates recorded 13 thefts as a team. Galvez had 13 saves in goal.
Ventura 10, Chaffey 3
Clint Howard scored four goals with three drawn ejections and two steals while Wiegman netted three scores with a pair of steals to lead Ventura to victory. Smallwood, Daland and Escalante all had three steals defensively and the Pirates had 24 steals as a team. Galvez turned back 12 Panther shots with five steals in the cage.
Ventura will travel to the Mt. SAC Tournament Sept. 16-17, with four more matches in the pools of Mt. San Antonio and Citrus colleges. They will play in the Cal Lutheran Mini on Friday Sept. 23 before hosting the Pirate alumni and CSU Northridge Club at the Ventura Aquatic Center on Saturday Sept. 24.