The Pirates' men's water polo team had a difficult trip to Morro Bay, dropping four games over the weekend at the Cuesta Tournament played at Morro Bay High School. Ventura (2-12, 0-2) dropped a Western State Conference game to Cuesta Saturday before falling to Saddleback in the nightcap. On Sunday VC fell to Orange Coast and Mt. San Antonio. Austin Brunk and Tanner Islander each had seven goals over the weekend to lead the Pirates.
Ventura 9, Cuesta 15
The Pirates fell behind quickly in the tournament opener, and could not recover in the Western State Conference contest. Islander had three goals and a steal while Brunk recorded two scores, two assists, two drawn exclusions with a pair of steals. Dru Coronado had a pair of goals with a steal and Trevor Campbell found the back of the net once and handed out four assists. Goalie Evan Hanely had seven saves.
Ventura 4, Saddleback 11
Ventura closed out play on Saturday with a loss to Saddleback. Brunk and Islander each had two goals while Zander Galvin had a drawn exclusion and one steal. Hanely turned back 11 Gaucho shots in the cage.
Ventura 9, Orange Coast 16
In the battle of Pirates, the OCC Pirates prevailed in Sunday's opener VC played even in the first and third quarters, but could not keep up with Coast in the second and fourth periods. Jake Peters, Islander and Brunk all found the cage twice in the game. Brunk added three drawn exclusions, two steals and three shot blocks and Islander handed out a pair of assists with one drawn exclusion and one shot block. Campbell had a scores and an assist and Galvin had one goal and one steal. Hanely recorded 10 steals.
Ventura 5, Mt. San Antonio 12
Another slow start doomed the Pirates in the tournament finale. Brandon Bence led the offense with a pair of goals while Brunk scored once with two drawn exclusions, three blocks and a steal. Coronado also scored once with a pair of helpers and Peters recorded a goal. Hanely had 13 saves in the game.
Ventura next travels to Santa Monica on Wednesday Oct. 17 to take on the Corsairs in a WSC match-up.