Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Last-minute Ramona goal ends Warriors' water polo league title streak

For the fourth consecutive year the winner of the girls’ water polo game between Fallbrook High School and Ramona High School would also be the Valley League champion. Fallbrook won the 2015, 2016 and 2017 games and thus the league titles, but the 2018 game, Feb. 8, in Ramona ended as a 6-5 Ramona victory to give the Bulldogs the 2017-2018 Valley League championship.

“Ramona just played better than us,” Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond said. “We played well, but it just wasn't well enough.”

Senior Night festivities preceded the game, and Ramona honored the Bulldogs’ eight seniors including four starters. Fallbrook’s roster had three seniors, and since Natalie Wood and Chloe Corrales were ill, Ella Hearn was the only Fallbrook senior in the pool.

“We’re definitely a lot younger team than they are,” Redmond said. “They hung in there and did very well.”

Ramona scored the first two goals of the game, with Maddie Schwegler and Avery Campa accounting for one apiece, before Hearn placed a shot into the net with 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Nine seconds later Schwegler’s goal gave Ramona a 3-1 lead to finalize first-period scoring.

Schwegler scored twice during the first two minutes of the second quarter to create a 5-2 advantage, although the Bulldogs would not score again for the next 18 minutes of play. Two Fallbrook goals narrowed the halftime margin to 5-4. Hearn scored twice in the second period with Gabby Vazzana accounting for the Warriors’ other goal.

The next goal was with 4 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were awarded a penalty shot, and Anna Draves placed the ball past Ramona goalkeeper Ciera Webb-Martin for the tie. The five-meter penalty shot was the second for the Warriors in the game, but Fallbrook missed a penalty shot during the first two minutes of the game.

“The second half they did a pretty good job of shutting down Maddie,” Ramona coach Donnie Williams.

“We just double-teamed her,” Redmond said.

Redmond said that he could leave a Ramona player unmarked since Schwegler and Campa appeared to be the only Bulldogs who needed to be defended.

“They were the only ones who were taking shots and scored,” Redmond said.

Each team had 16 shots on cage. Webb-Martin made 11 saves, consisting of six in the first half and five in the second half. Fallbrook goalkeeper Naomi Wood saved 10 Ramona shots.

Some of Wood’s saves were in the final minute when Ramona had a power play. She blocked two Ramona shots, but the second shot which was taken by Alyssa Gutierrez rebounded to Gutierrez who passed to Campa. Campa took a shot with 35 seconds left which became the winning goal.

“I can’t complain,” Redmond said. “We played well.”

Williams considers execution of plays to be the difference between Ramona’s win this year and Fallbrook’s victories in the three previous winner-take-all games.

“I just think it’s players making plays,” he said.

“Both teams played well, I think, especially right there at the end of the game,” Redmond said.

Redmond said that a combined two goals were scored in the second half.

“That shows the amount of defense there was for both teams, so we were pretty evenly matched,” he said.

The Warriors won their first 19 Valley League girls water polo games and had prevailed in 20 consecutive league games. Fallbrook was in the Avocado West League for 2013-2014, and a Feb. 4, 2014, loss to Vista at The Wave had been the Warriors’ last league loss before the 2018 game in Ramona.

The 2015 match between Ramona and Fallbrook at Fallbrook’s pool was tied at three goals apiece entering the fourth quarter, and a Fallbrook goal by Emma Thomas 12 seconds into that period was the final score of the Warriors’ 4-3 victory. Fallbrook won a 13-8 contest at Ramona in 2016 and a 10-7 matchup at Fallbrook in 2017. In each of the previous three years, Ramona ended the season with a 4-1 league record and second place in the final league standings.

This year Ramona had the 5-0 league record along with an 18-11 regular-season record, while Fallbrook was 4-1 in league play while concluding the regular season with a 13-11 record.

Fallbrook replaced Del Norte in the Valley League for the 2014-2015 seasons. Ramona won Valley League girls water polo championships in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/29/2024 05:29