Lady Warriors Water Polo has great season

The Fallbrook High School varsity women’s water polo team enjoyed a successful winter season that extended into post-season CIF play.

In the first round of the CIF Division I playoffs, the Warrior’s game with Patrick Henry went in favor of the Warriors 15-3.

The next game was the CIF quarterfinals with Torrey Pines. In three previous matches, the Warriors had won by a slim two-point victory when playing against Torrey Pines. Winning the quarterfinal match 7-5 gave the Warriors their fourth two-point victory over the team, and with it the number three seeded Warrior’s team advanced to play the second seeded Carlsbad Lancers in the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, Fallbrook’s team lost to Carlsbad 7-5 and finished just under Carlsbad’s team in the rankings. The Warrior’s team finished the season with 22 wins and 9 losses overall, and an Avocado League record of 7-3. Carlsbad went on to beat Poway in the finals 8-6 for the CIF championship.

Senior Rachel Jordan, captain of the Warriors team, received first team all CIF and first team All Avocado League honors, scoring over 80 goals in the season. Fellow senior captain, Allison Esbensen, received second team all CIF and First Team All Avocado League, scoring over 60 goals and over 60 assists for the team. The Warriors will be looking forward to the return next season of goalie Morgan Bishop who just started playing the position as a sophomore last season and received Second Team All Avocado League honors. Also returning will be the team’s starting center forward, Kendra Plackmeier, and two other starters, Lindsay Urquhart and Lauren Walker.

The coach of the Fallbrook team, Scott Forest, commented on the team’s success.

“I knew we’d be in the top three, top four, coming into the season. The largest challenges we were going to face were to get this team to find the concept that really just patience and defense was what was really going to take them all the way,” he said. “By the end of the season they had learned that, and they had also learned to play as a team. I think we peaked at the end of the season in regards to playing as a team.”