Opening a stretch of six home games in three days, the VC women's water polo team defeated Citrus and American River in play at the Ventura Aquatic Center Thursday. The Pirates (13-5, 3-1) scored two goals late to defeat Western State Conference for Citrus in the afternoon before routing visiting American River 17-12 under the lights. Lauren Wiksell was on fire with nine goals and eight assists on the day while goalie Valeria Ramirez recorded 18 saves in the cage in the two matches.
Ventura 13, Citrus 11
VC came out on top in a tight conference match-up against the Owls. Citrus held a 4-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, and wa ahead 7-6 at halftime. Ventura came back to tie at the end of three, 9-9, and Wiksell broke an 11-11 tie with 2:33 remaining in the contest. She also added an insurance goal for the Pirates with 1:00 on the clock.
Paige Treloar-Ballard led VC with four goals, two steals and a drawn ejection while Ylva Ostlin had three scores with three assists. Wiksell had her two goals late to go along with five assists and Maeve Flynn had two goals, two assists, three steals and a drawn ejection. Beth Arbon also scored twice in the win. Ramirez turned back seven Citrus shots on goal.
Ventura 17, American River 12
VC scored the first eight goals of the game under the lights at the Ventura Aquatic Center. The Pirates led 8-1 at the end of the first eight minutes and 10-5 at halftime.
Wiksell had an outstanding game with seven goals, three assists and a steal. Treloar-Ballard scored three goals with a pair of assists, three steals and two drawn ejections while Flynn netted three scores with two assists, a steal, and a pair of drawn ejections. Ostlin also had two goals and Ramirez had 11 saves in the cage.
The Pirates will continue their homestand with four games in the Ventura Tournament Friday and Saturday Oct. 7 and 8 at the Aquatic Center. VC begins play on Friday at 9:35 am with a WSC contest against Santa Monica. they follow that up at 6:20pm against Mt. San Antonio. Saturday, VC will take on El Camino and San Diego Miramar.