The Pirates' women's water polo team dropped a hard-fought defensive battle at Citrus College Wednesday in Glendora, 8-6. AnnMarie Patterson and Ella Montano each scored a pair of goals for Ventura and Emily Baughn handed out three assists. Kelsee Espitia grabbed eight steals and Ahna Davis had six saves to lead the defense for VC (16-6, 2-2).
Both teams struggled to find the inside of the cage with the Owls taking a 2-0 lead late in the first quarter. Patterson scored off an assist by Espitia with 18 seconds on the clock and VC trailed 2-1 after the first eight minutes of play.
Following another Citrus goal, Espitia and Patterson scored back-to-back goals to knot the score at 3-3 midway through the second period. The Owls rebounded with two straight scores before Montano netted a goal just before halftime. Ventura was down 5-4 at intermission.
Citrus maintained their edge throughout the second half, opening up an 8-5 margin with 2:20 remaining in the game before Montano scored again at the 58-second mark to set the final score.
Kendal Santos had five steals defensively while Baughn recorded three thefts.
The Pirates will next travel to the Battle at the Beach Tournament, opening with Golden West on Friday Oct. 20 at 11:30 am at Cerritos. The Pirates dropped a heartbreaker to the rustlers 12-11 in sudden-death overtime on Oct. 7.