The women's water polo split their first two games of the Ventura Tournament Friday at the Ventura Aquatic Center. The Pirates lost a Western State Conference match to Cuesta 12-10 in the opener before defeating Chaffey 8-4 in the nightcap. Maeve Flynn led the way with five goals, five steals and three drawn exclusions in the two contests.
Ventura 10, Cuesta 12
The Pirates dropped a conference match to open the tournament. VC scored the first goal of the game before the Cougars tied the score at 3-3 at the end of one quarter. Cuesta took control in the second period, posting a 7-3 lead at halftime. The Cougar lead stretched to 12-4 early in the fourth quarter before VC began a comeback. Ventura fell short in that bid, falling 12-10.
Flynn had a pair of gaols with two steals and an ejection while Paige Treloar-Ballard netted two scores with two assists, two ejections and five thefts. Lauren Wiksell had one goal with one assist and two steals and Raquel Rodriguez scored once with an assist, an ejection and one steal. Elizabeth Seacord, Danielle Pfeifer, Anjali Paramanandam and Reginae Maturino all scored one goal each in the loss. Miranda Campos had five saves in goal.
Ventura 8, Chaffey 4
The Pirates captured the nightcap in the final game of the day under the lights. The teams were tied 1-1 after the first eight minutes of play before Ventura took control in the second quarter. VC held a 5-1 lead at halftime before posting the 8-4 victory.
Flynn scored three goals with two drawn exclusions and three steals. Wiksell had two goals with two ejections and Treloar-Ballard scored once with two assists, three ejections and three steals. Maturino and Brittany Camp also found the back of the net for VC and Campos posted four steals.
The Pirates (11-7, 3-2) close the tournament with games against San Diego Miramar at 2:20 pm and El Camino at 5:50 pm at the Ventura Aquatic Center. These will be VC's final home appearances of the season.