Hancock Water Polo Hosts Conference Showdown with Ventura on Wednesday

Following a 3-1 effort at a tournament hosted by Cabrillo College, the Hancock women's water polo team (0-1, 5-8) will return home to host Ventura College in a Western State Conference game.

During the weekend tournament, the Bulldogs beat Diablo Valley 8-4, lost by one to Cuesta 8-7, defeated Modesto 13-6 and blanked Cabrillo 11-0.  Freshman Shannon Copeland (Clerendon HS) scored four goals and sophomore Nikki Gurgiolo (Righetti HS) scored twice to help Hancock avenge an earlier loss to DVC. Gurgiolo, Freshmen Megan Coyne (Righetti HS) and Ellyn Clardy each scored twice for Hancock in their last-second loss to Cuesta.  Hancock returned to the pool the next day to beat Modesto by seven behind four goals from Coyne, and three apiece from Clardy and sophomore Rebecca Gonzalez (Nipomo HS). Copeland threw four to the back of the net and Coyne scored twice in Hancock's 11-2 win over the host team.

After 13 games, Gonzalez leads the team with 23 goals to go with 25 steals and 11 assists. Copeland has scored 22 times, Clardy has 21 goals and Coyne has 18 goals and 30 steals. Sophomore goalie Kinsley Edman (Cabrillo HS) leads the team with 47 saves, while Kaitlin McNeil (Pioneer Valley HS) has stopped 33 shots in goal for the Bulldogs.

Earlier this year at the Cuesta Invitational, Hancock fell 16-5 to Ventura. Lauren Wiksell led the Pirates with four goals, while Paige Treloar-Ballard and Yiva Ostin had three each. Ventura will start the week 6-4 overall and 1-1 in conference. Ostin leads the team with 21 goals. Maeve Flynn has 12 goals and 15 assists.