The VC women's water polo team dropped their first conference loss of the season, a hard-fought 9-8 decision at Citrus College Wednesday. Freshman Elizabeth Seacord had five steals defensively to go along with a goal and an assist to lead the Pirates, who gave up the deciding goal with 48 seconds remaining in the game.
The Owls jumped out front with an early 2-0 lead before the Pirates (6-5, 2-1) came back to tie the score at 2-2 at the end of the first quarter. The teams alternated goals through the second period with Citrus holding a 5-4 advantage at halftime.
The hosts opened up an 8-5 advantage with a score with 6:10 remaining in the game before VC netted three straight scores, including the final two by Paige Treloar-Ballard in a span of just over a minute, to tie the game with 1:08 on the clock. Citrus, however, managed a goal on the next possession to set the final margin.
Treloar-Ballard led the Pirates with three goals, two steals, and two drawn exclusions. Lauren Wiksell had a goal with four steals while Reginae Maturino, Danielle Pfeifer and Maeve Flynn also found the back of the net. Miranda Campos had eight saves in the cage for the Pirates.
Ventura travels to the San Diego Tournament hosted by Miramar College on Friday and Saturday Oct. 1 and 2 before hosting Santa Monica on Wednesday Oct. 7. Start time for the SMC match is set for 2:15 pm at the Ventura Aquatic Center.