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Warriors conclude girls water polo regular season with shutout win

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School’s girls water polo team concluded the Warriors’ regular season Feb. 4 with a 19-0 home victory over Escondido.

The result gave Fallbrook a 6-14 overall record for the regular season including a 1-4 figure in Palomar League play. “We played against some of the top teams in the county,” said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

The sole Palomar League win was at home Jan. 25 when the Warriors defeated Valley Center by an 11-9 margin. League play for Fallbrook concluded Feb. 1 with a 10-5 home loss to Del Norte.

“We had some very good plays,” Redmond said of the game with Del Norte. “They played well. We actually started off very well.”

Over 28 minutes of play, Del Norte’s advantage manifested itself. “Del Norte and their experience kind of kicked in, and we weren’t able to keep up at that time,” Redmond said.

Feb. 1 was also Senior Night for the Warriors. Maylin DeLeon and Grace Goode are the only 12th-graders on Fallbrook’s 2021-22 team.

This season Escondido was a non-league opponent. “We had a great opportunity to really work on the things we’ve been talking about all season,” Redmond said. “Everybody got to play, but we were also able to work on the offense and defense we’ve been trying to work on. They’re starting to get it and we’re starting to come together on that.”

The Warriors’ normal two varsity goalkeepers are Arden Baur and Kayla Herbert. Baur was at a church camp and was not available Feb. 4, so Katja Young made her varsity goalkeeping debut. Young did not start the season as a junior varsity netminder. “I needed a goalie for the San Diego Open JV tournament and she volunteered to do it and try it,” Redmond said. “She did well.”

Herbert played the first and third quarters, when Fallbrook was defending the shallow end of the pool. Young was the Warriors’ goalkeeper for the second and fourth periods when Fallbrook defended the deep end. Herbert made four saves and Young recorded three saves.

Seven different players scored goals for the Warriors. Ava Dowden led the team with five goals; Kela Kendall and Ava Papoulias had four goals apiece; Lucy Loomis and Taylor Sanchez each scored twice, and Alexis Fieri and Kacey Sanchez contributed one goal apiece.

Some of the goals were unassisted. “We had a number of them where we stole the ball and they were able to take it all the way down,” Redmond said.

Kendall had five of the 15 assists. Papoulias, Kacey Sanchez, Taylor Sanchez, and Liesel Young each had two assists. Dowden and Loomis had one assist apiece.

“We had quite a few steals, which made a huge difference,” Redmond said.

Dowden had six of those steals. Goode and Papoulias each stole three balls. DeLeon, Kendall, Kacey Sanchez, and Liesel Young had two steals apiece. Fieri, Herbert, Loomis, and Taylor Sanchez each had one steal.

The CIF playoff seeding and selection meeting Feb. 5 gave Fallbrook the 10th seed in the Division I playoffs. “I actually thought we’d be 11th seed,” Redmond said.

The seeding is based on strength of schedule as well as win-loss record. “Playing the Palomar League, I think it’s helped to get us prepared for the CIF,” Redmond said.

 

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