VC Routs Santa Monica on Sophomore Day

The Pirates' men's water polo team honored its sophomore class in style on Wednesday with a 16-7 victory over Santa Monica at the Ventura Aquatic Center. Sophomores Sebastian Cornejo and Thomas Vels scored four and three goals, respectively, and Owen Cugnoni led the way with five scores as VC (6-12, 1-3) clinched the No. 4-seed in next week's Western State Conference Tournament.

Ventura took control early in the game as Kyle Wagner netted a goal and Cugnoni followed with a pair of scores to put the Pirates ahead 3-0 inside the first two minutes of play. Cugnoni and Cornejo followed with back-to-back goals for a 5-0 advantage with 4:29 remaining in the first quarter. 

After VC led 5-1 at the quarter break, Scott Wagner found the inside of the cage to maintain the five-goal margin. Vels sandwiched a pair of scores around a goal from Carlos Gonzalez, and Cornejo scored again for a 10-3 halftime lead for Ventura.

SMC never managed to make much headway against the VC defense in the second half as the Pirates cruised to the victory.

Cornejo added three assists and four steals to his four goals while Scott Wagner had two goals, two dimes, and three drawn exclusions. Luigi Travi contributed three drawn exclusions and three steals and Michael Soho scored one with an assist and a pair of thefts. Cameron Habib recorded an assist and two steals and Gonzalez had a steal to go along with his one goal. Stephen McNaughten stopped two shots and added three steals and Shawn Coyner had four saves in goal with two assists.

The Pirates will travel to play in the Día de los Muertos Tournament in Chula Vista on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27 and 28 before hosting the WSC Tournament play-in game on Wednesday Nov. 1.