Return from break costs girls lacrosse winning streak

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School’s girls lacrosse team took a 13-1 season record and a 10-game winning streak into Spring Break, but in the Warriors’ first game following the break they lost a 9-6 contest April 19 at home against Sage Creek.

“Very disappointed,” said Fallbrook coach Debbie Berg. “With a lot of our girls out of town, we had a very unproductive Spring Break, and it shows.”

This is Berg’s third season as Fallbrook’s head coach. Girls lacrosse has 12 players from each team on the field at a time. The Warriors have 16 players, which does not allow for a junior varsity season. About half of those players return from last year’s team.

“I have multiple freshmen,” Berg said.

In some cases, nine-on-nine games are played with some of Fallbrook’s younger players and an opponent’s junior varsity squad. “We’ve played some JV games,” Berg said.

Fallbrook’s previous loss to Sage Creek was in the first round of last year’s CIF Division II playoffs. The Warriors ended the shortened season with a 5-8 overall record and were 3-3 in Valley League play.

This year, the Warriors obtained their fifth win in their sixth game of the season. “We’ve got a couple of girls who are playing club and have a number of girls who are playing ULAX,” Berg said. “That game experience is what’s bringing up their game.”

The Warriors began their 2022 season with three wins. They opened the season March 1 at home against Del Lago Academy and obtained a 14-2 victory. On March 4, the Warriors traveled to El Cajon for a game at Valhalla and prevailed by a 9-3 score. Berg considers the win over Valhalla to be one of the season highlights. “They’ve always been tough for us to beat,” she said. “They were potent.”

A March 8 trip to Temecula Valley High School resulted in a 5-4 Warriors win. Fallbrook’s first loss of 2022 was by an 11-5 score March 10 at Chaparral. “We played right with another tough team,” Berg said of the loss.

Ramona traveled to Fallbrook for a March 11 game which ended as a 13-4 Warriors’ triumph. Fallbrook won a 15-2 game March 15 at Del Lago, a 13-3 contest March 17 at home against Hemet, a 12-0 match March 18 at Rancho Buena Vista, a 14-8 game March 21 at home against El Camino, a 15-4 competition March 23 at home against Mira Mesa, a 16-4 game March 25 at Canyon Hills (which was Serra High School prior to that school’s rebranding), a 14-2 home game March 31 against Hemet, and a 13-2 matchup April 1 at home against Great Oak.

The Warriors then opened Valley League play April 6 at home against Valley Center and defeated the Jaguars by a 16-9 score.

Sage Creek is also a Valley League opponent. As of April 14, the Bobcats were ranked 15th in the county while Fallbrook was ranked 24th. “It’s nice to know that we can play with a higher-ranked team,” Berg said.

“We have played tougher teams and beat tougher teams,” Berg said. “We were unprepared.”

Sage Creek held a 6-1 lead at halftime. “The second half was a much better half,” Berg said.

The loss gave Fallbrook a 13-2 overall record and a 1-1 Valley League mark. “I’m very happy with the season, very unhappy with this game,” Berg said.