Warriors girls water polo speeds into CIF semifinals

On Saturday, Feb. 15 the Fallbrook Union High School Varsity Girls Water Polo team started fast and never looked back in a 12-9 win over Canyon Crest Academy in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division I playoffs.

"It went well," head coach Sean Redmond said. "We came out a lot stronger than we have in our last five or six games, which we knew we were going to have to do. We had made some minor adjustments and changes, starting with our warmup which I think set the girls up. Then we worked on some new different strategies and what we're going to do within the games and that really helped."

The win sent the Warriors into the semifinals of the tournament where they will face No. 7 Westview, who upset No. 2 seeded Rancho Bernardo.

The Warriors will play Westview starting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Coggan Aquatic Center, 800 Nautilus Street in La Jolla.

"Now we get to play Westview again," Redmond laughed. "Going into the CIF championships, when I saw the seeding and saw Westview as a No. 7 seed, I even told this to one of the tournament directors, I think Westview is the dark horse. You know, if you aren't paying attention, you will underestimate them, because they are a lot better than what they're seeding them as."

The Warriors lost to Westview in the San Diego Open, 11-7, right in the middle of the Warriors' five-game losing streak.

"(At that time) we were just not coming out fast enough, hard enough, and digging ourselves a hole right in the beginning of games," Redmond said. "That's the approach we're going to be taking of not letting that happen on Wednesday night when we play. Just to say, 'Hey, we're ready.'"

If the Warriors win that one, they will play the winner of No. 1 Poway and No. 4 Helix on Saturday, Feb. 22 in the championship game, again at the Coggan Aquatic Center.

The Warriors split with Helix during the regular season. The faster Warriors beat them in a big pool but lost a close one in Helix's smaller pool.

"So, we've been jokingly going back and forth and saying, 'Yeah, we'll see each other in the CIF final,'" Redmond said. "But Poway is looking tough."

The Warriors lost to Poway a couple of weeks ago.

"They could have easily gone in the open division," Redmond said. "But because they lost to El Camino, that's why El Camino got the 8 seed in the open and Poway got the No. 2 seed in Division I."

If it ends up Fallbrook and Poway for the Division I title on Saturday night, it will be a rematch of the Division II title game last season that saw Poway lift the trophy.

"When you get to the CIF championships and get to the playoffs, it's a whole new season," Redmond said. "A lot more is on the line. It would be nice to have the opportunity to have a rematch from last year, but we'll see."

For updates on all the matches in the tournament, visit https://scorebooklive.com/girls-water-polo/tournaments/257.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].