On the first day of the Western State Conference Tournament in Valley Glen, Ventura College women's water polo team split two games. In the quarterfinal round, the Pirates downed Citrus 8-6 before falling to Los Angeles Valley 10-8 in the conference semifinals. Lauren Wiksell netted five goals on the day with Paige Treloar-Ballard adding four goals.
Ventura 8 Citrus 6
Needing a victory to advance on in the tournament, No. 5-seed Ventura (16-12, 4-5) came out battling, but fell behind in the first half 4-3 to the fourth-seeded Owls. In the second half, the Pirate offense found a way to push past Citrus with Treloar-Ballard netting three goals while Wiksell and Maeve Flynn both scored single goals. Ventura's defense stood tall in the match with 18 total steals, led by Danielle Pfeifer with eight. Elizabeth Seacord added six steals. Flynn drew the only ejection of the game for the Pirates.
Starting goalkeeper Miranda Campos returned to action in the opener for the first time in a few games and her play in net helped the Pirates pick up the win. She collected five saves in three quarters of play.
Los Angeles Valley 10 Ventura 8
Facing off against top-seeded Los Angeles Valley and a win away from playing for the WSC title, the Pirates took a one goal advantage into the fourth quarter. Paced by Wiksell offensively, who scored four first half goals, the Pirates held a 7-6 margin with eight minutes left to play. Ventura was unable to hold back the host Monarchs, however, as Valley scored three goals and the Pirates could only respond with a solo score, taking the tough-luck loss.
Campos started in goal and played a fantastic game. Facing constant pressure from the Monarchs, she was able to collect 14 saves. The Ventura defense could not force the same amount of errors out of LAVC with just four steals in the game.
With the split the Pirates will return to the pool on Saturday Nov. 7 at LA Valley to play Cuesta for third place in the WSC Tournament. The match begins at 12:15 pm.