Despite an outstanding team effort, the VC women's soccer team fell to visiting Santa Barbara 3-1 Wednesday evening at the VC Sportsplex. Alix Tirado scored for the Pirates in the 10th minute, and VC maintained a level score for over 40 minutes of game time despite being down a player before the Vaqueros pulled away in the end. Pirate goal keeper Kambria Haughton had six saves on the night.
It was a promising start for the Pirates as Denisse Garcia had a pair of shots in the first minute of play. SBCC answered on a counter attack, however, and took a 1-0 lead with a goal in the second minute of play.
Ventura continued to keep up the pressure offensively despite the deficit. In the fifth minute, Tirado had a great leave for Garcia, who slotted a shot to the far post that forced a diving save by the Vaqueros' keeper.
Tirado scored the equalizer in the 11th minute. Alyssa Cornwell sent a through ball down the left side that was settled by Tirado, and smacked into the upper right corner just inside the far post.
The game took another turn in the 23rd minute as Garcia was given a red card for a dangerous play, forcing the Pirates to play the remainder of the contest a player down.
Despite the disadvantage, Ventura continued to perform brilliantly. The defense kept the Vaqueros out of the net while the offense generated a number of chances for the go-ahead score. A goal never materialized, however, and Haughton's key saves in the final five minutes of the half sent the sides into intermission with a level score.
VC and SBCC remained deadlocked well into the second half. Valerie Hernandez hit a header from a corner kick that sailed just wide in the 63rd minute before Santa Barbara broke the tie with a goal off a corner kick four minutes later.
In the 69th minute, tempers flared as a skirmish after a SBCC foul led to a pair of red card ejections, including Cornwell for the Pirates and one for the Vaqueros.
For the final 21 minutes, VC played nine versus 10, and continued with their outstanding effort. In the 85th minute Ashley Tiscareno hit a shot off a Tirado cross forcing another strong save by SBCC, and Tiscareno also just missed a redirect a minute later.
With the Pirates aggressively seeking the draw late, SBCC took advantage with a breakaway goal in the 88th minute to seal the result.
Ventura outshot Santa Barbara in the game, 13-11, and the Pirates had six shots on goal.
The Pirates have little time to dwell on the setback as they next host Moorpark on Friday Oct. 28 at 5:30 pm.