Warrior water polo loses home opener in overtime

Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team lost its home opener in overtime October 15.

Torrey Pines took a 10-9 victory over the Warriors. “We dropped a close one to them in the last second of the game, which was disappointing,” said Fallbrook coach Bob Lamont.

Fallbrook led the game 5-3 at halftime, but the Falcons tied the game in the fourth period and the score was knotted at six goals apiece at the end of regulation. The teams then played two mandatory three-minute overtime periods, and after the first overtime the score was tied at seven goals apiece.

With one second remaining in the second overtime, Torrey Pines scored the winning goal. Had the score remained tied after the first two overtimes, the teams would have engaged in sudden-death overtime.

“It was exciting,” Lamont admitted.

Kai Bowman led the Warriors with four goals, three of which were in overtime. Jacob Pril added three goals while Russell Barrett and Kevin Wu each put one ball into the net. Wu led the team with six steals while Steve Reichel added five steals.

Fallbrook goalie Ryan Helling had 19 saves against the Falcons. “I had a phenomenal performance from Ryan Helling,” Lamont noted. “We didn’t find him one more goal to close it out.”

Torrey Pines drew eight Fallbrook ejections, in which a player must leave the pool for 20 seconds of play, and the Falcons converted on three of their eight man-up situations. Fallbrook converted on two of their six man-up opportunities.

The Warriors followed the loss to Torrey Pines with their first home win October 17, a 19-2 victory over La Costa Canyon. Fallbrook drew 10 La Costa Canyon ejections and scored on five subsequent advantages while the Warriors only had two ejection penalties.

The win over La Costa Canyon evened Fallbrook’s Avocado League record at 2-2 while giving the Warriors an overall mark of 10-8.

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