The Pirates' women's soccer team is up to its old (hat) tricks again. Janelle Garcia netted her third hat trick of the season, and added an extra goal to boot, and Jennifer Orozco had a hat trick of three scores in leading Ventura (14-4-1, 6-0-1) to a 9-1 runaway victory at Allan Hancock College Tuesday in Santa Maria. It was VC's sixth and seventh hat trick of three (or more) goals by a player in a game this season as Orozco has topped the mark four times and Janelle has reached at least three goals in three games. The performance was also Janelle's ninth multi-goal game of the season.
The Pirates wasted little time in asserting their dominance over the host Bulldogs. In the third minute, Orozco led Janelle with a through ball, and Janelle chipped it into the net for a 1-0 Pirate lead. In the seventh, Orozco took a pass from Valeria Ramirez and hit it to the upper right corner of the goal.
In the 24th minute, Janelle netted her second score off of an assist by Michelle Rios and the Pirates led 3-1. In the 30th,a Sarah Garcia corner kick led to a header by Orozco, and Hannah Greene sent a pass into the box in the 41st minute that was controlled by Janelle and sent into the goal for her hat trick.
With time running short in the half, Orozco completed her hat trick on an assist by Janelle, and in stoppage time, Janelle netted her fourth score, assisted by Greene. The Priates led 7-1 at intermission.
Ramirez got into the act in the 81st minute converting a pass from Sydney Kruft into the corner of the net, and she converted her second goal on a volley from Greene's third assist of the afternoon. Ventura rolled to the 9-1 victory.
The win takes the Pirates' unbeaten streak to 10 games heading into the most difficult stretch of the season. VC will travel to third place Santa Barbara on Friday Nov. 4 for a 7:30 pm game at La Playa Stadium. They follow that up with a trip to Moorpark on Tuesday Nov. 8 for a 3:00 pm game. The Pirates and Raiders are currently tied atop the Western State Conference North Division standings.