On the final day of the regular season, the Pirate soccer team and visiting Moorpark played all square through 85 minutes. But a late Raider goal sank the Pirates' ship as VC fell to defeat 1-0 on Sophomore Night at the Sportsplex. Second-year Pirates Esmeralda Murillo, Valeria Ramirez and Maya Antunez saw their final action in the orange and black on the Sportsplex pitch as Ventura now awaits its playoff fate in the coming days.
The Pirates did have their chances to put the ball into the net during the match with 25 shots, 13 of which were on goal. One of the first chances came in the 10th minute when Sirena Romero took a free kick, and soon thereafter, Murillo followed with a shot-on-goal. Audrey Castillo took a corner kick in the 17th minute, and Kayla Simmons Allon had a shot on goal in the 37th. The teams went into intermission with a scoreless tie.
Simmons Allon and Romero each took free kicks early in the second half, and Castillo took a corner in the 70th minute. Sierra Patton had a shot on goal in the 70th minute.
With time winding down, the Raiders finally broke through with a goal in the 85th minute of action to take a 1-0 lead. That's where the final result stood, as the Pirates dropped their regular-season finale.
Ventura (9-11-2, 4-4) now awaits its playoff fate. There will be 18 teams seeded into the SoCal Regional bracket, and currently VC sits at 17th in the regional Power Point ranking. If the Pirates do receive a bid top the playoffs, they will most likely go on the road for a first round game on Thursday Nov. 16.