Sultans defeat Warriors in first round of girls water polo playoffs

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

In the first round of the CIF Division I girls water polo playoffs, Santana High School defeated Fallbrook High School in a Feb. 9 match.

The Sultans obtained a 13-9 victory, but Warriors coach Sean Redmond wasn’t displeased about his players performance. “I thought they played very well. Santana was definitely the better team that day,” Redmond said. “Disappointed in losing, but the way they played, I was very pleased with.”

The Feb. 5 CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting gave Santana the seventh seed among Division I schools and Fallbrook the 10th seed. Santana has an on-campus pool which meets CIF playoff standards, so the first-round game was played there.

The Sultans had leads of 4-1 after the first quarter, 8-4 at halftime, and 11-6 after three periods. Fallbrook scored three of the five goals in the final quarter.

“We kind of found our groove in the second half, but they had enough and were able to keep it going that way,” Redmond said.

Ava Dowden had five of the Warriors’ goals. “She had a very good game,” Redmond said.

One goal apiece was scored by Alexis Fieri, Grace Goode, Kela Kendall, and Marissa Pearce. Goode and Maylin DeLeon were the only seniors on the 2021-22 Warriors.

The loss finalized Fallbrook’s season record at 6-15. The Warriors were 1-4 in Palomar League competition.