Women’s Water Polo Falls in Championship Semi-Final

Ventura, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Water Polo team opened up the 2012 Western State Conference Championship Tournament with a win in the play-in round, but fell later in the day in the semi-final. The Owls knocked off the #4 seed Cuesta College in the opening round 15-13 before falling to #1 seed Los Angeles Pierce College 16-8 in the semi-finals.

Citrus opened up the day on the right foot by taking a 4-2 lead over the Cougars in the first quarter of play. Cuesta rallied in the second quarter though, and the Owls held just a 7-6 lead headed into the half. In the third quarter Citrus began to pull away outscoring Cuesta 6-3 and taking a 13-9 lead into the final quarter. The Cougars would outscore Citrus 4-2 in the fourth quarter, but that was too late at that point as Citrus won by two.

Freshman Mandy Darafeev led the way on the day scoring seven goals. Freshman Kendra New chipped in with three scores as did sophomore Meghan Turner. Turner also added a team high two assists and three steals. Freshman Jenna Cook was the game's defensive stud with five steals.

In the second game, Citrus fell behind early, getting shutout in the first quarter while the Brahmas scored four times. In The second quarter, the Owls matched Pierce's output as each team pumped in four scores. The Brahmas pulled away though in the third quarter scoring six times to Citrus' one, putting the game away for good.

Turner would score a team high five goals in the game, while Darafeev scored the other three goals of the game. Freshman Candelaria Baca handed out three assists and New swiped a team high three steals.

With the loss in the semi-final game, Citrus will be relegated to the third place game tomorrow afternoon against LA Valley College.