The Bad and The Good

Ventura, CA - The Citrus College Women's Water Polo team headed up the coast on Thursday afternoon for a pair of contests, the first in WSC play against Ventura College and the second a non-conference tilt with visiting American River College. It was a bad and good trip for the Owls, who lost by two in the opener with Ventura, but rallied with a win against American River.

 The Owls started the afternoon against the day's host in what was a big-time conference showdown with the Pirates. The two schools traded goals until the end of the first when a score by freshman Hunter Olivier with just one second to go to put the Owls up 4-3

The second quarter would play out much like the first, with Ventura and Citrus each taking turns scoring through the first five minutes of action. That changed with 2:51 when freshman Chloe Barrocas got a pass from freshman Alyssa Gonzalez that gave the Owls a 7-5 lead after their second straight 6-on-5 score. It didn't last through the quarter though, as the Pirates scored with 1:21 to go to go into the break trailing the Owls by one

Citrus came out the break and looked like they would continue what they had started getting a goal by freshman Johana Chazaro Cortes off a pass from freshman Lindsay Powell to go back up two, 8-6. Ventura answered though with a 3-0 run to to take their first lead of the day 9-8. Only some solid defense down the stretch and another Chazaro Cortes goal with 38 seconds to go would make it a game headed into the final frame tied up at 9-9

Ventura would score on their first possession in the fourth to go back up one. Gonzalez would answer a few trips later with a 6-on-5 strike that tied the game back up at 10-10, but Ventura came right back down the length of the pool and put the Pirates back up one. A minute and a half later, Citrus would pull back even on a score by Chazaro Coates, but that was the final score for Citrus the rest of the way, while the Pirates netted a pair more for the 13-11 win

In the loss, Olivier scored four goals, had two assists, and three steals. Gonzalez finished with two scores, two assists, a steal, and three exclusions drawn. Sophomore goalie Delaney Moller added two steals and seven saves

Citrus couldn't dwell on the loss long as they had to take on the Beavers. ARC would come out and score the game's first goal, but the Owls scored twice in the first to go on top 2-1. The Owls had a huge second quarter, where they outscored ARC 5-3 and jumped out to a 7-4 lead. The third quarter proved to be low scoring again with the Owls scoring two of the three goals to extend their lead to four goals 9-5

In the fourth, the Beavers did their best to rally, scoring four goals, while the Owls scored just once. That one goal, a score by Barrocas with Chazaro Cortes assisting and 2:09 showing on the clock would prove to be the difference maker as Citrus hung on for a 10-9 victory. Barrocas scored three times in the win, adding a pair of steals, while Olivier had two scores and three steals

With the win and the loss, Citrus moves to 11-7 overall. The Owls will be back in action on Tuesday October 11th, when they host Cuesta College in a pivotal Western State Conference meeting. The match is set for a 2:30 PM start time.