The VC women's water polo team dropped their Western State Conference semifinal to top-seed Santa Barbara 16-4 Friday at Citrus College in Glendora. The No. 5-seeded Pirates will play Cuesta for third place on Saturday at 12:15 pm
It was going to be a daunting task from the beginning for the Pirates, facing one of the state's top-ranked teams. Unfortunately, things went according to script as the Vaqueros raced to a 7-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, the bright spot coming on Kayla Wallace's goal with 4:50 remaining. Things didn't get much better for VC (14-15, 3-5) in the second period as they trailed at halftime 13-1.
The Pirates did score twice in the third quarter, goals by Sabrina Cherfane and Sara McGuire, and Talullah Lund Sidi found the back of the cage in the fourth.
Wallace finished with a goal, three steals and an assist while Cherfane added two steals, one assist and one drawn exclusion to her single goal. McGuire had one score and one helper and Katia Flores grabbed three steals with one exclusion. Katie Heath pulled in two steals with three drawn exclusions. Samantha Ontiveros grabbed two thefts and one drawn exclusion and Lund Sidi finished with the one goal.
VC will enter the pool for their season finale on Saturday Nov. 4 in the WSC's third-place game against Cuesta. The match is slated for 12:15 at Citrus College in Glendora.