In an intense contest between two of the Western State Conference's top teams, the No. 18-ranked Pirates' women's soccer team and No. 12 Santa Barbara played to a scoreless draw Friday evening at the Sportsplex. Sibella Donnelly had three saves in goal in shutting out the Vaqueros while the back line defense led by Elisa Merlos also played well in earning VC (6-2-3, 1-0-1) one point in the table.
Both sides played a conservative first half, focusing on defense and keeping the opponent from scoring.
The game opened up in the second 45 minutes, however, as both teams were presented with strong scoring chances. The Pirates seemed to be unlucky at times as they had several chances in the final period to knock in a game-winning score.
Jillian Smith and Andrea Ibarra both had solid outings for Ventura, the latter putting up seven shots. Yahaira Ramirez had three shots on goal off of set pieces for VC and Jennifer Galindo also had a nice game in the Pirates' midfield.
VC totaled 11 shots in the game with five on goal while SBCC was limited to four shots, two on target.
Ventura next hosts Moorpark on Tuesday Oct. 3 for a 7:00 pm kickoff at the Sportsplex.