The VC men's water polo team showed progress Friday in splitting a pair of rematches from early season games at the Mt. San Antonio College Tournament in Walnut. In the opener, VC narrowly fell to the host Mounties 12-11 on a last-minute goal before coming from behind in the final quarter for a 12-11 victory over Fullerton in the nightcap. Ryan Reardon had four goals and three steals on the day and Glenn Ishida also netted four scores for Ventura (4-4).
Ventura 11, Mt. San Antonio 12
Six days after giving up nine unanswered goals against the Mounties, the Pirates led for most of the game before falling 12-11. VC led 3-1 at the end of one quarter of play, and 5-3 at halftime before Mt. SAC pulled to a 9-9 tie at the end of three periods. VC had leads of 10-9 and 11-10 before giving up the final two goals of the match in a heartbreaker.
Reardon had three goals to go along with an assist, one exclusion and a steal to lead the way. Ishida also scored three times with two exclusions. Cole Morter had a goal with two assists, a pair of drawn exclusions and a steal while Jarett Baldwin, Tanner Islander, Brandon Bouse and Justin Bouse each scored a goal. Derek Gamberutti recorded six saves in the cage with an assist and Dalton Esrofani turned back five shots in goal.
Ventura 12, Fullerton 11
In their second close match of the day, VC turned a 13-11 defeat at the hands of the Hornets a week ago into an exciting 12-11 victory. Ventura trailed at the end of each of the first three periods, and was down 10-8 with 6:57 remaining in the game before mounting their comeback. Ishida netted the winning score with 1:53 on the clock with an assist from Justin Bouse.
Kyle Goodrich led the offense with three goals and three assists and Islander scored twice with a pair of assists and a steal. Morter scored two times with a pair of drawn exclusions. Baldwin scored a goal with one assist and two steals while Reardon had a score and two steals. Brandon Bouse, Ishida and Leonardo Lopez also netted goals in the victory. Gamberutti had five saves with an assist and a steal while goalie for VC and Esrofani had a save with two assists and three steals.
Ventura will conclude play at the Mt. SAC Tournament with a pair of matches at Citrus College on Saturday Sept. 16 before hosting Long Beach in their home opener on Thursday Sept. 21 at 2:15pm at the Ventura Aquatic Center.