Warriors 3-2 at Poway Invite water polo tournament

Fallbrook High School’s boys water polo team opened its 2010 season by winning three games at the Poway Invitational tournament September 9-11 while losing two tournament matches.

“We identified some things we’ve got to work on down the line,” said Fallbrook coach Bob Lamont.

The Warriors began their season September 9 with a 9-5 win over Ramona at the Westview High School pool. Six different Warriors scored one or two goals. “Evenly spread scoring across my starters,” Lamont said.

Fallbrook goalkeeper Drew Ferguson made six saves and held the Bulldogs to four goals before being rested. Sam Rice led the Warriors with four steals, and Mike Maryn had two assists.

The Warriors scored the game’s first three goals and had a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Fallbrook led 6-3 at halftime.

In water polo an ejection is a 20-second penalty in which the penalized team must play short-handed unless a goal is scored against them before the penalty expires. A player with three ejections is “majored” and removed from the game. Ramona’s Alan Williams was majored during the first half. “That kind of hurt us in a lot of ways,” said Ramona coach Donnie Williams.

Each team had seven ejections in the Fallbrook-Ramona game. The Warriors made three five-meter penalty shots. Although Ramona goalie Marlen Bernd only made two saves, he also had two of the Bulldogs’ seven steals. “We still played solid defense against them,” Williams said.

Fallbrook also had two goals on counterattacks. The Warriors led 7-4 after three periods.

Fallbrook remained at Westview for its second September 9 game, which was against Westview and turned out to be a 16-10 loss to the Wolverines. “I was glad we were able to generate ten goals, but I was disappointed in our defense giving up so many,” Lamont said. “We had some problems in the second game.”

Kort Heyneman and Zack Meyer led Fallbrook’s scoring with three goals apiece against Westview. Heyneman added two assists. Ferguson made five saves against the Wolverines.

The Poway Invitational includes participation from teams outside the San Diego Section, and pool availability considerations combined with the desire to limited the out-of-town squads’ travel to two days meant that some San Diego Section teams played Thursday and Saturday but not Friday. The Warriors had September 10 to practice before playing three games September 11.

Fallbrook’s first September 11 match was at Westview against Rancho Buena Vista, who took a 10-6 victory over the Warriors. The Longhorns had a 5-3 halftime lead, although the Warriors were able to score the next two goals to tie the game. Rancho Buena Vista then scored the next four goals. “They pulled away from us,” Lamont said.

The Warriors’ final two games of the tournament were at Poway High School. The first was a 13-9 win over La Costa Canyon in which Fallbrook took a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. “Held it through the rest of the game,” Lamont said.

“We closed out with a strong finish in the fourth quarter,” Lamont said. “That was good to see.”

Ferguson made ten saves against the Mavericks. “Drew Ferguson stepped it up in that game,” Lamont said.

Heyneman led the Warriors’ offense with four goals, Alec Carpenter added three goals, and Meyer complemented his two goals with five steals. Tyler Vanderstelt and Dane Oppenborn also had two goals apiece. “Had good work off the bench,” Lamont said.

Fallbrook concluded the Poway Invitational with a 9-6 victory over Santa Fe Christian. Carpenter led the scoring with three goals while Vanderstelt and Heyneman each put two balls into the net. Rice led the team with four steals while Carpenter and Maryn had three steals apiece. Ferguson made seven saves against the Eagles.

Heyneman and Rice each had three assists against Santa Fe Christian. “Both those individuals are stepping forward as playmakers,” Lamont said.

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