It did not take long for the Pirate soccer team to score Friday night at the Sportsplex, as they took an early lead in the fourth minute and never looked back in their 6-0 shutout of visiting Cuesta. Five different players scored goals as Ventura (11-4-1, 5-0-1) remained in a first place tie in the Western State Conference race while stretching their unbeaten streak to eight matches.
In the fourth minute, Sarah Garcia hit a corner kick into the middle of the box, and Rae Ritchie was able to corral the ball and punch it into the net for an early 1-0 Pirate advantage.
Ten minutes later, Valeria Ramirez hit a pass from left to right across the field to Jennifer Orozco. Orozco hit a hard shot from 20 yards out that was stopped by the Cougar goalie, but Janelle Garcia was in front of the net to clean up the rebound and give VC a 2-0 lead.
In the 29th minute, Sarah made a nice pass to Orozco on the run, and she was able to chip the ball over the keeper and into the goal for the Pirates' third score.
Ramirez closed out the first half scoring, taking a pass from Janelle and slotting it into the net for a 4-0 VC lead at halftime.
Fresh off the opening kick in the second half, Janelle got her second goal of the night on a pass from Maya Antunez, taking just 15 seconds to make the count 5-0.
Five minutes later, Janelle used some fancy footwork in the box before leaving the ball for redshirt-sophomore Hannah Greene, who gathered and scored her first career goal for the Pirates, setting the final margin at 6-0 for VC.
The Pirates totaled 13 shots in the game with 10 on goal. Goalie Marissa Dominguez had two saves in recording the shutout for Ventura.
VC begins a four-game road trek on Monday Oct. 31 with a non-conference match at Los Angeles Valley. They travel to Santa Maria on Tuesday Nov. 1 to face Allan Hancock College.