The VC men's water polo team had a solid effort against Grossmont Thursday afternoon at the Ventura Aquatic Center, falling to the Griffins 19-15. Owen Cugnoni had five goals and three drawn ejections in the game while Scott Wagner netted four scores with for assists and five drawn ejections. Ryan Webb recorded three goals with a pair of steals defensively.
The Pirates had a rough start, falling behind 7-2 through the first quarter of play.
Things turned around in the second, however, as Webb, Wagner and Matthew Ogonowski scored consecutive goals to bring Ventura back to within two, 7-5, less than two minutes into the period. The teams then traded scores for the remainder of the half and the Pirates trailed 11-8 at intermission.
Wagner found the inside of the cage on VC's first possession after halftime to cut the deficit back to two before the Griffins outscored the Pirates 4-1 for the remainder of the stanza.
Ventura kept the effort up over the final eight minutes of play, keeping up with Grossmont, closing the final margin to 19-15 with late scores by Wagner and Cugnoni.
Ogonowski added three dimes to his score while Thomas Vels and Cameron Habib also netted goals for the Pirates.
VC next begins Western State Conference play on Wednesday Sept. 27 at Cuesta. The first sprint is slated for 4:00 pm in San Luis Obispo.