Playing their first competition against community college teams, the Pirates' men's water polo team split a pair of matches at the Citrus Tournament in Glendora. VC could not make a halftime advantage hold up against Fullerton in the first match of the day, falling to the Hornets 11-8. VC (2-2) rebounded to take a 15-13 victory against Chaffey in the nightcap. Ryan Reardon led the way for Ventura with five goals, five assists, five steals and four drawn ejections in the two contests.
Ventura 8, Fullerton 11
The Pirates outscored Fullerton 3-1 in the second quarter to take a 4-3 lead into halftime. The Hornets, however, came back strong in the third period, establishing a 7-5 advantage heading to the final stanza. Brandon Bouse led the VC offense with three goals and an assist while contributing a pair of steals and two drawn ejections. Reardon had two scores with two assists, two steals and three drawn ejections. Justin Bouse and Cole Morter each scored a goal in the contest. Derek Gamberutti was solid in the cage, turning back six shots in the first half of play with three steals and an assist.
Ventura 15, Chaffey 13
The Pirates bounced back in the second match of the day with a strong 15-13 win over Chaffey. The Pirates gave up the first goal in the wide-open contest before taking a 4-2 lead over the Panthers at the quarter break. Both offenses scored at will in the second period with VC holding a slim 8-7 halftime advantage. The game opened up in the second half with the Pirates holding the 12-8 lead at the end of three periods, and they extended the margin to 15-10 before Chaffey made a comeback attempt in the final minutes.
Reardon led the way, scoring three goals with three assists and three steals while Glen Ishida netted three goals with an assist. Morter, Jack Burleigh and Kyle Goodrich all scored twice for the Pirates in the game.Leonardo Lopez grabbed four steals defensively. Gamberutti recorded six saves in the cage, sharing time with Dalton Esrofani and Frank Lopez, who each had four saves.
The Pirates will conclude the Citrus Tournament with a pair of matches on Saturday Sept. 9. They will play at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut against Grossmont at 9:10 am and versus Mt. SAC at 1:00 pm.