Warriors fourth at Poway Invitational

Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team finished fourth in the Poway Invitational tournament September 13-15.

The Warriors won their first three matches to earn a spot in the semifinals before losing the semifinal game by three goals and the third-place competition by one goal.

“They’ve got a lot of talent for sure,” Fallbrook coach Michael Hatcher said of his players. “We’ve just got to pull it all together.”

The Warriors began the tournament September 13 with a win over Clairemont. Fallbrook played two September 14 games, defeating Santa Fe Christian and Patrick Henry to place in the semifinals.

The Warriors’ semifinal match September 15 was against top-seeded Poway. “We came out pretty slow in the first quarter, but after that we won the next three quarters,” Hatcher said. “We definitely can play with them.”

Poway took a 12-9 victory to advance to the finals while Fallbrook played Vista in the third-place game later that day. Vista had a 7-2 lead after one period, but Fallbrook had a 10-9 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“We came roaring back in the second and third quarters,” Hatcher said.

Vista scored both fourth-quarter goals, including the winning tally with approximately one minute left, for the 11-10 victory.

Despite the two losses to end the tournament, fourth place still exceeded the Warriors’ pre-tournament ranking of 12th among the participating teams. “Very satisfying,” Hatcher said.