by Timothy Weisberg | Nov 4, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Published on November 2, 2009
Dominance would probably be the best word to describe the Ventura College water polo program this season.
The men and women’s teams have clinched a number one seed for the Western State Conference tournament, with each posting undefeated marks (4-0) during conference play.
Women’s head coach Mary McDonough is happy to see both the men’s and women’s programs become so successful over recent years.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “The men and women sort of feed off each other.”
When it comes to feeding, the teams have been having an all-you-can-eat buffet, as the men’s team posted a 17-4 record during the regular season, and the women’s team posted a 16-4 record.
Each team clinched the number one seed after decisive victories over Santa Monica College in the regular season finale.
Led by their offensive force Carly Clark, the women hope to make a name for themselves in the conference tournament, and understand the importance of winning the tournament.
If they win, the Pirates are granted an automatic seed into the Southern California tournament, which is for all the marbles. With a Pirates loss, they will most likely be eliminated from playing in the Southern California tournament.
To McDonough, you have to live by the Pirate motto “We play hard,’ or simply go home.
“It’s win the tournament, or most likely be finished with our season,” McDonough said.
What has contributed to such a stellar season for the women has been their offensive firepower. They are always on the attack, and their defense has been able to give them more opportunities on the offense end.
They say good defense creates better offense, and this is something both the men and women have been able to do.
McDonough did not hesitate to proclaim her team’s ability to play well on the offensive end, as well as defensively
“We play a real hard press-front defense,” she said. “We have great outside shooters, [which] poses a real threat.”
The Pirates are also effective communicators, according to Clark, helping the defense play harder, ultimately creating opportunities for the offense.
“Communication is the biggest key for us,” Clark said. “[The] defense starts getting really strong.”
The conference tournament starts on Friday and goes through Saturday, where the men and women’s teams hope to win and be able to get an automatic berth into the Southern California tournament.
So what needs to be done to ensure they can continue to dominate the WSC?
“Just finish everything we started,” Clark says. “I think if we just stay together we can continue to go far.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 31, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 28, 2009
Ventura College will be holding its third annual Brian Marshall Golf Classic to commemorate the life and career of former Pirate coach Brian Marshall.
From 1972 to 2002, Marshall was the respected as an educator and coach at Ventura College. During his thirty-year career, he served as the head coach for Golf, Football and men’s and women’s basketball.
According to Tim Harrison, Dean of Health, Physical Education and Athletics at Ventura College, Brian Marshall will be remembered as a mentor to many student-athletes and the VC staff during his tenure.
“Brian Marshall will be remembered as a great person and a great mentor for the students and staff at Ventura College,” Harrison said.
Marshall passed away in April 2006 after a battle with Amyloidosis. After his passing, Ventura College made it a mission to pass on his dedication and passion for athletics as a former player and coach.
Harrison expects a pretty large crowd at the event, with as many as 130 volunteers on staff to help.
The event will be held at Saticoy Country Club in Somis, Cali. on Monday, Nov. 2. Registration begins at 9 a.m., while a shotgun start will begin at 11 a.m.
The entry fee to participate is $200 per person, with all proceeds benefiting the Brian Marshall Memorial Scholarship Endowment, VC men’s golf and VC Athletics.
A dinner, awards banquet and auction will be held after the golf classic from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. You may attend the dinner only for $50 a person.
If you are unable to attend the dinner or participate in the golf classic, VC athletics is accepting money donations, with checks made payable to the Ventura College Foundation.
For more information, contact Tim Harrison at (805) 256-5630, or simply email him at tharrison@vcccd.edu, or www.venturacollege.edu, and click on Athletics.
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 31, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 28, 2009
The Ventura College Pirates’ water polo team showed off their potent offensive attack, absolutely obliterating the winless Santa Monica City College Corsairs 21-6 Wednesday afternoon.
The game featured goals from seven different Pirates players, including four goals from sophomore Mike Crowley.
Crowley believed that it was easy to move the ball around offensively, and that this contributed to a successful offensive attack.
“It was easy to control the offense,” Crowley said. “Our offense was really flowing.”
The Pirates did seem to be able to easily move the ball around, scoring their first goal 45 seconds into the game.
A goal by Spencer McGrath gave the Pirates a commanding 4-1 lead less than four minutes into the game.
The Corsairs were never able to recover, and trailed the Pirates by six after the first period.
The Pirates truly shined offensively, taking twice as many shots on goal as the Corsairs. That meant the Pirates scored an astonishing 71 percent of the time by putting in 20 of 28.
Crowley added another goal in the third period to put the Pirates up 9-1, before the Corsairs finally got a goal from No. 15. But this proved to only make the blow out seem less eminent, as the Pirates took an 11-4 lead at the half, and a 17-5 lead after three periods.
Pirates head coach Mike Schmidt was pleased with the way his team played this afternoon, and complimented their ability to work together as a team.
“For the most part, we did what we wanted to do,” he said. “We made a lot of good passes and played together real well.”
Despite the easy win for the Pirates, and the obvious talent level that overmatched the Corsairs, the win was still important to the Pirates.
“It was still a big win for us,” Schmidt said. “[The win] secures a top seed in the conference tournament.”
At 17-4 (4-0 Western State Conference), the victory clinched the Pirates a number one seed in the WSC tournament, which will be held this Friday and Saturday at Valley Glen College.
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 28, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Photo courtesy of Ventura County Star
Published on October 26, 2009
All it took was 58 seconds for Ventura College (6-1, 3-0 WSC) to seal a victory.
The Cougars fumbled on the second play of the game, giving the Pirates the ball inside the Cougar 20. Two plays later and less than a minute into the game, the Pirates were up 7-0, and never looked back.
After Dominique Morris rumbled into the end zone for the first score of the game, the Pirates never looked back, cruising past College of the Canyons (5-3, 2-2 WSC) 23-6 Saturday night at Ventura.
But the Cougars would not learn their lesson, and when a Cougar player ran into his own player and fumbled the ball, the games fate was clear.
If it weren’t for a fake field goal try on fourth down, the Pirates would have scored on their first two possessions while the Cougars fumbled on their first two possessions.
A great punt return by Pirate receiver Nick Karam erased the failed fourth-down conversion, once again giving the Pirates excellent field position. Pirates’ quarterback Antavius Sims threw a six-yard strike to extend their lead to 14-0.
Despite running the same number of plays on offense in the first quarter, the Cougars totaled 68 fewer yards of total offense.
The Cougars fumbled the ball seven times in the game, losing the ball five times. The Pirates were able to get excellent field position every time the Cougars fumbled, and because they did not turn every turnover into points, the final score certainly did not indicate the blowout it really was.
The Cougars had a chance to make it a game on a long pass play that put them inside the Pirates’ five-yard line. However, a personal foul negated the great play, and the Cougars eventually fumbled for the fourth time, as Pirate linebacker Loren Powers recovered the ball.
The Cougars had 10 penalties for 125 yards in the game, but none more costly than the one that nullified on the long pass play.
Despite Sims being out with an injury for the remainder of the game, he managed to complete 10 of 13 passes for 107 yards, and even run for 62 yards on eight carries in the first half.
The Cougars’ anemic offense allowed the Pirate defense to prevent the game from getting any closer.
In fact, the Cougars were on the verge of getting shut out for the first time since the football program was revived in 1998 if it weren’t for a meaningless 5-yard touchdown pass by Justin Morales to Michael Rivera with 2:35 remaining.
Sophomore Linebacker Ryan Panapa, said he had been told his entire football career how important it was to win the turnover game.
“Growing up all I heard from my coaches was if you win the turnover game you would win the game,” said Panapa.
The Pirates have a true challenge awaiting them when they travel to Bakersfield College next Saturday.
However, Panapa believes that tonight’s victory will give the Pirates a lot of drive and energy that will be critical for their game at Bakersfield.
“It (the win) will give us a lot of momentum going into our next game.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 26, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 23, 2009
Twelve students from the Running for Fitness class at Moorpark College challenged their running abilities in an annual fundraiser held on Sunday, Oct. 11.
The students ran a 5k (3.1 mile) race as part of a fundraiser to support Save Open-Space & Agricultural Resources (SOAR), an organization that works to protect open space from urban sprawl, according to Women’s cross country and track and field coach Traycie Kephart.
Several students earned metals for their respective age groups: Josh Boles finished first in the 19-29 age group, and tenth overall with a time of 19:48.0, Maureen Hoeflinger finished third in the 40-49 age group, and 52nd overall with a time of 26:52.0; Kailey Blahut finished second in the 19-29 age group, and 81st overall with a time of 30:35.0; Samantha Benitz finished third in the 19-29 age group, and 82nd overall with a time of 30”35.0; and David Meyer finished 115th overall with a time of 34:24.0.
To learn more about the SOAR organization and the Running for Fitness class, you can visit the organization’s website at www.soarusa.org, or contact Traycie Kephart at tkephart@vcccd.edu.
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 26, 2009 | Student Voice published stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 23, 2009
The Moorpark College athletic department decided to shake things up with the hiring of Will Thurston as the new softball coach for the Raiders.
Thurston is in his 31st year of coaching at Moorpark, and most recently served as the head coach for the men’s golf team. As coach, he led the Raiders to the 2008 Southern California Championship. The golf team qualified for the CCCAA State Championships in three of the nine years he coached the squad.
Thurston is in his second stint as the softball coach for Moorpark, coaching the team for ten years. In his first stint with the Raiders, he won the Western State Conference Coach of the Year award seven times, and his team won nine WSC championships in ten years.
As a coach, he posted an astonishing 115-12 (.905) record, creating a true WSC dynasty under his ten-year tenure.
Thurston is excited to be coaching the Raider softball team again, and hopes to guide the team back to the success it had when he first coached the team.
“It is a real privilege for me to return to the Moorpark College softball program as head coach,” Thurston said in a press release. “My past experiences as their coach were incredible, and I want to help out the current and future student athletes to share the same type of success that I enjoyed.”
Last season, the Raiders won the WSC championship for the first time since 2002, and Thurston now has to guide Moorpark to consecutive WSC championships in the upcoming season.
