Warrior girls seventh at water polo's San Diego Open

Although Fallbrook High School’s girls water polo team lost three of five games at the San Diego Open tournament Jan. 31 through Feb. 5, the Warriors placed seventh among the 26 teams in the tournament.

Fallbrook had Jan. 31 losses to Bishop’s and Granite Hills and a Feb. 5 loss to Valhalla while defeating Otay Ranch on Feb. 4 and taking the Feb. 5 seventh-place game from Mount Carmel.

“Seventh place was fine,” said Fallbrook coach Bob Lamont. “It was pretty representative.”

The two Jan. 31 games were played at Montgomery Middle School in El Cajon. Bishop’s, which has reached every CIF Division II final since 1998 and won seven of those 13 championship matches, defeated the Warriors by a 12-6 score.Demi Barrett led the Warriors with three goals while Jackie Verdon added two goals. Bridgette Harrison led Fallbrook with four assists while Sarah Bushnell and Hunter Bowman each had six steals against the Knights.

Granite Hills plays its non-tournament home games at Montgomery Middle School, and the Eagles required sudden-death overtime to take a 9-8 victory over the Warriors. Verdon had four of Fallbrook’s goals while Bowman and Barrett scored twice apiece. Bushnell had eight steals and three assists.

The Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 games were played at Bishop’s. Fallbrook prevailed over Otay Ranch by a 13-6 margin. First-string goalie Jenny Chavez was unavailable, so Alyssa Heimbigner played the entire game in the nets and made 10 saves against the Mustangs. “She had a solid performance,” Lamont said.

Barrett and Verdon each scored five times against Otay Ranch while Harrison contributed four assists.

The Warriors suffered a 6-5 loss to Valhalla. Barrett led the team with two goals, Harrison had four steals against the Norsemen, and Bowman and Verdon each had three steals.

The 6-5 win over Mount Carmel was by the same score that the Warriors defeated the Sundevils in a Jan. 5 match. Chavez made five saves, Bushnell and Barrett each scored twice, and Bowman stole the ball three times.

The win over Mount Carmel gave Fallbrook a 1-2 tournament record in one-goal games. “Two one-goal games could have easily gone our way,” Lamont said.

Barrett scored 14 goals during the tournament while Verdon placed 13 shots into the net. Harrison was the Warriors’ leading playmaker with nine assists. Bushnell had 24 steals and Bowman came up with 20 steals.

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