Warriors repeat girls water polo league championship

Tie CIF single-season record for shutout wins

Fallbrook High School's girls water polo team won its second consecutive Valley League championship with a 13-8 win Feb. 12 at Ramona.

That game concluded league play and the regular season for the two squads which entered the contest with 4-0 Valley League records. Fallbrook's final regular-season mark of 19-9 includes not only the 5-0 league record but also five shutout victories, which ties the CIF San Diego Section record.

Fallbrook rebounded from a 12-2 non-league loss Jan. 26 at La Jolla High School by defeating Oceanside by a 16-5 score in a Jan. 28 Valley League game played at Brook Street Pool in Oceanside. "It was a total team effort and we were able to get everybody in," said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

The first week of February included five San Diego Open tournament games and one league match-up. All five of Fallbrook's San Diego Open contests were played at the Granite Hills High School pool.

Granite Hills was Fallbrook's opponent as well as the host for the Warriors' first Feb. 1 game. The Warriors not only defeated the Eagles but did so with a 4-0 shutout victory.

"That was a surprise. We were not expecting that," Redmond said of shutting out Granite Hills. "We've always liked playing them, but to have a shutout was not what we were anticipating."

The previous match between Fallbrook and Granite Hills was in last year's CIF semifinals; the Eagles won that 10-5 game. The two teams played in the 2014 San Diego Open with Granite Hills prevailing by an 8-5 score, and that season the Eagles also won a December 2013 non-league game by an 8-3 margin.

"It was our great defense," Redmond said of achieving the shutout.

Fallbrook goalie Jordann Heimback made 13 saves. The defense allowing so many balls to get to the shot stage was an area of concern for Redmond, although Heimback's performance had more positive connotations. "We're also very fortunate to have a goalie like her to do that," Redmond said.

One of those saves was on a five-meter penalty shot which sent a message to the Eagles players about Heimback's ability to stop potential goals. "That stop made a lasting impression on Granite Hills," Redmond said.

As a team Fallbrook's defense made 19 steals against Granite Hills.

Heimback made 10 saves in Fallbrook's other Feb. 1 game, which was a 13-3 loss to Bishop's. "It was definitely a learning experience," Redmond said of the game against the Knights.

Orange Glen High School played its home games at the Washington Park pool in Escondido, and the Feb. 4 Valley League game ended as a 13-1 Fallbrook victory. "The players played well," Redmond said.

Heimback made eight saves against the Patriots and the team recorded 24 steals.

A 4-0 tournament win Feb. 5 against Scripps Ranch gave Fallbrook five shutouts for the season, tying the CIF record set by Otay Ranch in 2007-08 and matched by Otay Ranch in 2011-12. "I don't think we went into the season to see how many shutouts we could get. It was just to run our defense and see what we could do," Redmond said.

Redmond set a team objective of allowing no more than one goal per quarter. "If we're able to do that, then we'll score enough goals to keep us ahead," he said.

Four of the five shutouts were at Granite Hills. The Warriors played there for their Winter Classic tournament games, and on Dec. 14 Fallbrook had a 12-0 win against Santana and a 17-0 triumph over San Ysidro. Fallbrook's 15-0 victory Dec. 3 against Valley Center at Del Norte High School in the Bronco Tournament opened the Warriors' season.

During the 1998-99 season, Fallbrook and Valhalla each had four shutout wins, which was the CIF record until Otay Ranch broke that mark in 2008. The Warriors also had four shutout victories as part of the 2009-10 season.

The team combined for 18 steals in the shutout win over Scripps Ranch. Heimback recorded nine saves against the Falcons.

Both of Fallbrook's Feb. 6 tournament games were losses. The first was an 8-3 defeat against Westview. "I think they kind of have our number right now," Redmond said.

Westview defeated Fallbrook by an 11-5 score in the Dec. 5 final of the Bronco Tournament and by an 11-7 margin in a Jan. 5 non-league game at Westview. "We did play them better than the last two times," Redmond said. "Our defense did improve, but our offense wasn't there yet."

Fallbrook also failed to avenge a previous loss to Rancho Buena Vista. "That actually went a little bit worse," Redmond said.

The Warriors and Longhorns had a non-league match Jan. 19 in Vista which was a 7-5 RBV victory. The Feb. 6 tournament game score was 11-2.

"We wanted to do a little better in the tournament, but it was also to prepare us for the last week of the season and then going into CIF," Redmond said of Fallbrook's 2-3 record. "I think we succeeded in making some new changes, adjustments, to get us ready for the last three games that we had."

Three wins in those final three regular-season games assured the Warriors of a strong position for the early rounds of the CIF playoffs. San Pasqual High School determined that the Del Norte High School pool was not only no further away from the school than an Escondido municipal pool but could also be rented at less cost, so Del Norte was the site of Fallbrook's Feb. 9 non-league game at San Pasqual. The 11-2 Warriors victory included 18 team steals and nine Heimback saves.

The Del Norte girls team didn't need its pool Feb. 10, as the Nighthawks traveled to Fallbrook for a non-league game. The previous game between those two teams was the Dec. 3 Bronco Invitational contest. Del Norte scored all three fourth-quarter goals to create a 6-6 tie at the end of regulation and send the game to sudden-victory overtime. Fallbrook won the fifth-period sprint and scored off that play for a 7-6 victory.

"We knew any lead we had was not safe until the final buzzer, and they definitely proved to be a formidable team," Redmond said.

The Feb. 10 game ended as an 8-3 Fallbrook victory. The competition was preceded by Senior Night ceremonies in which Fallbrook honored Heimback, Taylor Dowden, Alexis Kalthoff, Mackenzie Montgomery, Jazmin Patterson, Sierra Peterson, and Ariana Young.

Seniors accounted for seven of the Fallbrook goals with Dowden, Montgomery, and Patterson each scoring twice and Peterson placing one shot into the net. Fallbrook's other goal was scored by junior Caitlyn Batty. Dowden had six of the team's 22 steals and Heimback made nine saves.

The shutout against Valley Center does not count in the league standings but the 12-4 home win Jan. 21 against the Jaguars contributed to a cumulative 60-12 scoring advantage for the Warriors in their first four league games. Ramona outscored opponents by a 53-18 margin in the Bulldogs' first four league matches. Last year, Fallbrook and Ramona also both began league play with 4-0 records before facing each other. The 2015 game was played in Fallbrook and was a 4-3 Warriors victory.

"We knew this was going to be a tough battle," Redmond said.

The score of last year's Fallbrook-Ramona game was 2-2 at halftime and 3-3 after three quarters with Emma Thomas scoring the winning goal in the fourth period. Thomas and her sister are military dependents and were not on the 2015-16 Warriors, nor was 2014-15 senior Claudia Oppermann. Ramona lost three seniors from last year's team and honored the Bulldogs' 2015-16 seniors prior to this year's game against Fallbrook.

In the 2016 game, Fallbrook had a 3-1 lead after the first period and built up an 8-4 halftime advantage. The Warriors' lead was 12-6 after the third quarter. Ramona narrowed that margin to 12-8 before one additional Fallbrook goal created a 13-8 final score.

"It was definitely a very physical game," Redmond said.

Dowden scored seven of Fallbrook's goals. Heimback, who made 18 saves against Ramona last year, had 11 saves in this year's game against the Bulldogs. The Warriors' 24 steals included six by Montgomery and five from Young.

"Even though we scored 13 goals I'd have to say it was our defense," Redmond said of defeating Ramona. "We were able to stop them."

Redmond noted that much of the Ramona scoring was the result of outside shots taken after fouls.

Ramona won the 2012-13 and 2013-14 Valley League championships before the Warriors matched that feat of two league titles in a row.

"It was one of the goals for the season, and it was nice for our seniors to go out as league champs again," Redmond said of winning this year's Valley League championship.

The Warriors last won back-to-back league championships in 1998-99 and 1999-2000, when Fallbrook was in the Avocado League.

All Division I teams qualified for the CIF playoffs with the top eight participating in the Open Division post-season and the others playing in the Division I tournament. Although the Warriors fell short of their goal of participating in the Open Division playoffs, they were given the Division I second seed during the CIF playoff seeding and selection meeting Feb. 13.