Traveling to Cypress College on Friday afternoon Ventura women's water polo picked up a split for the day at the Battle of the Beach Tournament. In their opener, the Pirates (14-9, 3-3) dropped a 15-8 decision to San Joaquin Delta but then rebounded in the second game to take down Cuesta 12-8. Lauren Wiksell scored six goals on the day with four assists. Goalkeeper Anjali Paramanandam picked up 13 saves in two games.
Ventura 8 Delta 15
In the opening game of the tournament Ventura jumped out to a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play. The Pirates relinquished the advantage in the second period when they netted just one goal and fell behind 7-4 at halftime. Ventura scored four goals in the second half, but were unable to cut into the deficit dropping the opening game to the Mustangs.
Paige Treloar-Ballard netted four goals in the game with three drawn ejections and one steal. Danielle Pfiefer, Kalyn Pina, Elizabeth Seacord and Reginae Maturino each added single goals. VC collected 12 steals as a team, led by Seacord with five, while they were able to draw four ejections against Delta. Paramananandam collected four saves in the loss.
Ventura 12 Cuesta 8
Taking on Western State Conference opponent Cuesta in their second game of the day, Ventura put together a gritty effort to pick up the victory. Led by Wiksell and her six goals in the game VC took a 3-1 lead after one quarter of play and never gave it back. At the half the Pirates were on top 5-4, and extended the margin to 9-6 after three periods.
Maeve Flynn and Raquel Rodriguez added two goals each for the Pirates with Treloar-Ballard and Seacord both netting solo scores. Flynn and Wiksell both picked up two assists for the Ventura attack. On the defensive side of the pool the Pirates used a stiffling defense to pick up the win with 18 team steals led by Seacord with five and four other Pirates collecting multiple steals. Flynn, Pfeifer and Pina each drew ejections against the Cougars. Paramananandam notched nine saves in goal.
Ventura will play two more games at the Battle at the Beach Tournament on Saturday Oct. 24 before returning to WSC play on Wednesday Oct. 28 for a 5:20 pm game against Santa Barbara City College at San Marcos High School.