On the Right Path

Santa Barbara, CA - The Citrus College Women's Water Polo program began 2016 Western State Conference play on early Wednesday evening when they travelled to two-time defending conference champ Santa Barbara City College. The Owls fell in the contest, but found themselves on the right path to contending in conference play in 11-4 setback.

Santa Barbara came out and scored the game's first two goals, before freshman Johana Chazaro Cortes came off the bench and scored off a pass from freshman Brooke Padilla with 47 seconds to go. The Vaqueros would score again just before the buzzer, but the Owls got momentum headed in the right direction.

In the second, Santa Barbara scored three straight before Citrus closed the first half with scores by freshman Chloe Barrocas and Chazaro Cortes. As the third quarter started, Citrus got as close as they would get when freshman Alyssa Gonzalez scored 40 seconds in to make it 4-6. Unfortunately the Owls were shut out the rest of the way, and couldn't take advantage of six 6-on-5 chances in the final 16 minutes of play.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in WSC play. The Owls will make their home debut on Friday when they co-host the 20th Annual Mt. SAC Classic. Citrus opens up the weekend by taking on Rio Hondo at 11:30 AM and then Orange Coast College at 3:00 PM.