Fallbrook High field hockey team reflects on season

Fallbrook High School's girls field hockey team finished its season Nov. 11 with a loss to Del Norte in the first round of CIF playoffs. The girls ended with a 2-4 league record and an overall mark of 3-17.

Though the season had its rocky times, varsity team co-captain, senior Victoria Russell, said of the team, "One of our strengths was the ability to look forward after tough losses and continue to progress."

And progress it did. Fallbrook finished league play with a 3-2 overtime victory against Valley Center in its senior night game, a victory many girls considered to be the highlight of the season.

"We played our hearts out and it felt really great to win," said sophomore Maiya Romero of the senior night victory.

"I think most of us were crying," said Russell. "It was so surreal."

This year's team was a young one with five sophomores, a junior and only four seniors, so practices included a lot of skill building and situational play.

"This season, we focused a lot on stick skills and small game play in order to apply it to the larger game," said senior Ashlie Lackey, team co-captain. Russell added, "Being on varsity just means putting all the basics to the test."

With all the practice came great improvement. Lackey noted, "One of our team's strengths was stopping our opponents from scoring on defensive corners."

Over the course of the season the girls developed close bonds with one another. They always managed to have fun on and off the field and the memories they shared were some of the girls' favorites.

This was the farewell season for the four seniors and Romero said they'll be missed.

"I will definitely miss all the seniors because they made this season so much fun and still cracked jokes through all the sweat and tears," said Romero.

The feelings were mutual as Russell said of her younger teammates, "I will most definitely miss seeing their cute, smiling faces and all of the crazy bus ride concerts."

Lackey added, "This team has taught me to have fun even when the games didn't fall in our favor."

The returning girls have already started looking forward to next season when they hope to finish with a better record with their now more experienced players.

Lackey noted a point of improvement the girls will need to work toward next season,

"Fallbrook's team will have to focus on their defense as all four of our seniors played some type of defensive position," said Lackey.

Romero, one of the sophomores who will be retuning next season, commented, "I'm excited to help the upcoming players learn the game and take what the seniors have taught us this year about leadership to encourage them."

With all of this enthusiasm, the girls figure to improve upon the successes they had this season and look forward to an even better season next year.