Warriors win girls soccer league championship

Fallbrook High School won the Valley League girls soccer championship.

The Warriors posted a 7-1-2 record in league play for first place in the final standings. Valley Center High School finished second with a 4-2-4 mark, Mission Vista High School had a 5-4-1 figure for third place, a 3-4-3 statistic gave Ramona High School fourth, San Pasqual High School took fifth place by finishing 2-5-3 and 2-7-1 wasn’t sufficient for Escondido High School to escape the cellar.

Fallbrook’s overall regular-season record was 10-6-4.

“It’s been a great season,” Fallbrook coach Sergio Garcia said. “Very proud of the girls.”

In both 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, San Pasqual won the league championship and Fallbrook placed second.

“We’ve been close the past two years,” Garcia said.

Fallbrook’s sole league loss for the season was Jan. 18, when the Warriors played Mission Vista at Luz Duran Park in Vista and the Timberwolves obtained a 2-1 victory. That gave Fallbrook a 2-1-1 league record entering the Warriors’ Jan. 23 home game against San Pasqual.

“We talked about it being a learning experience,” Garcia said of the game following the Warriors’ loss.

Hannah Diverde scored a first half goal with Karina Bulli providing the assist, and the Warriors hung on for a 1-0 win. Fallbrook goalkeeper Valerie Juarez made six saves for the shutout which also included defensive efforts from sweeper Audrey Petersen, left defender Porcha Camilli, center defender, which is sometimes called a stopper, Delia Tapia and right defender Judith Urbina.

“San Pasqual was the team to beat in past years, so beating them twice this year was rewarding and it shows that we’re improving as a team,” Garcia said.

Fallbrook, San Pasqual and Mission Vista were in Division II for playoff purposes. Valley Center was in Division III. Escondido and Ramona were Division IV schools. Last place in the Valley League didn’t prevent Escondido, whose regular-season record was 7-13-2, from being given the fifth seed in the Division IV playoffs.

“We’re happy to have beaten them twice,” Garcia said.

The second round of league play began Jan. 25, and Fallbrook hosted Escondido that day. Goals by Diverde, Petersen, and Nikel Villa accounted for Fallbrook's scoring in the 3-0 victory over the Cougars. Bulli and Adriana Madrigal had assists, and Juarez made four saves.

The Jan. 25 games also included Ramona’s 3-2 home win against Mission Vista which knocked the Timberwolves out of first place in the league standings and gave Fallbrook the lead. Valley Center obtained a share of the standings lead Jan. 30 when the Jaguars defeated Escondido in a 2-0 game at Valley Center and Fallbrook was held to a 1-1 tie at home against Ramona.

“Ramona was a tough team,” Garcia said. “They came out swinging.”

Bulli scored Fallbrook’s goal against the Bulldogs.

Fallbrook regained first place Feb. 1 when the Warriors traveled to Valley Center and defeated the Jaguars in a 1-0 contest.

“The Valley Center game was a key game through the end of the season. I think it was the tilting point of our winning league,” Garcia said.

Jade Kennedy scored the game’s lone goal with Diverde providing the assist. Juarez recorded seven saves against the Jaguars.

The Valley Center loss in conjunction with Mission Vista’s 3-1 home win over Escondido that day gave the Timberwolves a share of second place, a game behind Fallbrook.

“We treated the last three games as the final,” Garcia said.

Mission Vista and Valley Center played to a 1-1 tie, Feb. 6, in Valley Center, so the Warriors actually clinched the league championship that day with a 4-2 triumph at San Pasqual.

“We were able to put four in,” Garcia said. “The midfielders were creative and generated a lot of scoring opportunities.”

All four of Fallbrook’s goals were scored by midfielders. Kennedy, who was the Warriors’ left midfielder, placed three shots into the net. Center midfielder Galilea Medina scored Fallbrook’s other goal. Fallbrook’s right midfielder was Diverde, who contributed two assists.

Fallbrook had to contend with the Golden Eagles’ attack, especially in the second half.

“They changed their formation where they had three attackers,” Garcia said.

The Golden Eagles peppered Juarez with shots, but she made nine saves.

“Our back four played tight in the back,” Garcia said of Petersen, Camilli, Tapia and Urbina.

Fallbrook was also handicapped when about 30 minutes into the game Bulli scraped her leg on the turf. She missed the rest of the game but was able to play two days later.

Bulli, Alida Corona, Diverde, Vanessa Hernandez, Medina, Petersen, Julieta Urbina and Villa were honored at the Senior Night ceremony preceding Fallbrook’s Feb. 8 home game against Mission Vista. The Timberwolves were Valley League members in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, which were Fallbrook’s first two seasons in the league, before being assigned to the Palomar League for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Mission Vista was third in the 2017-2018 Palomar League standings. The North County Conference realignment approved last year returned the Timberwolves to the Valley League for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

“It just adds another tough opponent,” Garcia said.

The final score was 1-0 in Fallbrook’s favor. Madrigal scored in the first half with an assist from Bulli.

“The whole team was focused,” Garcia said. “The second half of the game was focused to not make any mistakes.”

Mission Vista had second place at stake, but the loss along with Valley Center’s 1-1 tie at home against Ramona gave the Jaguars that position.

Juarez saved seven Mission Vista shots. The shutout was the seventh for the Warriors in their 10 league games and their ninth overall for the season.

“That line of back four was the common denominator,” Garcia said.

The girls’ soccer league championship was the first for Fallbrook since the 2007-2008 Warriors posted an 8-1-1 record in Avocado League play.

“I think it was a successful season,” Garcia said.