Warriors open girls water polo season by reaching finals of Bronco Tournament

Fallbrook High School's girls water polo team opened its 2015-16 season with five Bronco Tournament games Dec. 3 to 5 and reached the tournament's championship match.

The Warriors won their first four games before losing to Westview in the final. The wins included a shutout, an overtime victory, and overcoming a deficit.

"Our defense is doing very well," said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

The tournament was hosted and organized by Rancho Bernardo High School. Fallbrook's two Dec. 3 games were at the Del Norte High School pool. The Warriors opened their season against Valley Center, who will see Fallbrook again during Valley League play. "We played who they gave us," Redmond said.

Fallbrook defeated the Jaguars by a 15-0 margin. "We actually had to slow it down in that game and we were able to play everybody, which was nice for our first game of the season," Redmond said.

Thirteen girls are on the Warriors' 2015-16 varsity roster.

Fallbrook goalkeeper Jordann Heimback made five saves in the shutout. "We had a lot of steals," Redmond said.

The Warriors had a total of 23 steals. Taylor Dowden led the team with seven steals. Dowden also led the Warriors with seven goals while Jazmin Patterson scored six times. Dowden and Heimback each had three assists.

Redmond noted that the emphasis on defense was the key to Fallbrook's success. "We were able to shut them down by doing that," he said. "If we're able to use our speed and use our brains that we're capable of, that's going to be the big difference for us."

Claudia Oppermann was the only senior on the 2014-15

Warriors, but the losses from last season's team also include military dependents Amelia and Emma Thomas. "That's half of our points right there from last year," Redmond said.

During 2015, Fallbrook was undefeated in five Valley League matches while Valley Center's 3-2 record placed the Jaguars third in the six-team standings. The January 2015 league game in Valley Center was a 13-3 Fallbrook triumph.

The Warriors' second Dec. 3 game was a 7-6 overtime win against Del Norte. "It was good to be challenged. We needed that, especially this early in the season," Redmond said.

After three quarters, the Warriors held a 6-3 lead, but the Nighthawks scored all three fourth-period goals. "I think they were very aggressive and we weren't able to respond as well," Redmond said.

If a non-tournament game is tied after regulation, two mandatory overtimes comprise the initial extra periods and the game goes into golden goal overtime if the score is tied after the initial two overtimes.

The Bronco Tournament went immediately to golden goal overtime after the end of the fourth quarter. Dowden won the sprint and passed the ball to Ariana Young while Dowden swam towards the Del Norte net. "Ariana had the ball and passed it right where she needed to," Redmond said.

Dowden converted Young's pass into the winning goal.

Rancho Bernardo High School was the site of Fallbrook's Dec. 4 match against Torrey Pines. The Warriors had an 8-7 advantage entering the fourth period and scored the only goal of the final quarter for a 9-7 victory over the Falcons. "Our defense was able to step up," Redmond said.

Heimback had nine saves against Torrey Pines. "If it hadn't been for her, it probably would have been different," Redmond said.

Dowden had five steals against the Falcons. Patterson led the Warriors with four goals.

Both of Fallbrook's Dec. 5 contests were at the

Rancho Bernardo pool. The first was a 5-4 victory over Vista. The Panthers scored the only goal of the first period, but the Warriors took a 2-1 halftime lead. The score was tied at 4-4 after three periods and the fourth quarter was scoreless until Dowden's goal with two seconds remaining. "Taylor had a great shot that hit the goal post and bounced right in," Redmond said.

Heimback made nine saves against the Panthers. The team's 20 steals included seven apiece by Young and Dowden.

The win over Vista put Fallbrook into the final against Westview. The Wolverines won the championship with an 11-5 victory. "Westview was better. Westview definitely played better than we did," Redmond said.

Heimback made seven saves against the Wolverines. Redmond attributes the difference between the two teams to the Warriors being more inexperienced, but he was satisfied with Fallbrook's performance in the championship game. "I thought they played very well," he said.