Bulldog girls fall short against Warriors, Broncos

Ramona High School’s girls water polo team was even with both Fallbrook and Rancho Bernardo after the first periods of the Bulldogs’ first two games of the 2009 calendar year, but the Bulldogs eventually lost both matches to give Ramona a 3-4 record for the 2008-09 season.

Fallbrook took a 10-6 victory over the Bulldogs in a Jan. 6 game at Ramona while Rancho Bernardo won a Jan. 8 home game by a 7-6 score. The games were the first for Ramona since the Benson Tournament, which took place early last month.

“We just have to get back into the swing of things,” said Coach Donnie Williams.

Ramona and Fallbrook were tied at two goals apiece following the first period, and the Warriors had a 5-4 halftime lead.

“We made some plays,” Williams said. “We had opportunities. We had shots.”

Ramona also had defense. Goalkeeper Jessica Patterson made eight saves against the Warriors, who were unsuccessful on all four of their five-meter penalty shots. “She did a good job there,” Williams said of Patterson.

“We did a pretty good job of shutting them down,” Williams said of Fallbrook, which evened its season record at 5-5 with the victory and entered the Ramona game with four players having scored at least 10 goals. “Most of their goals came on counterattacks.”

Fallbrook led 9-6 after three periods.

“It was just counterattacks more than anything,” Williams said of the Warriors opening up their lead.

Katelyn Bakun scored three of Ramona’s goals, with Kaylee Nelson, Autumn Hillis, and Ashley Shields tallying one score apiece.

Patterson also blocked a penalty shot in the first quarter against Rancho Bernardo, and the first period was scoreless.

Nelson’s goal in the second quarter gave Ramona a 1-0 lead, but that was the Bulldogs’ only first-half goal and the Broncos led 4-1 at halftime. Rancho Bernardo led 5-2 after three periods.

“We came back strong,” Williams said.

With two minutes left, Ramona had narrowed the gap to 6-5 before the Broncos obtained a two-goal lead. Ramona’s final goal came with 12 seconds left.

Bakun and Nelson each scored twice for Ramona. Hillis and Kelly DeGraaf had one goal apiece.

Ramona’s novice team returned to Rancho Bernardo for a Jan. 10 novice tournament. The Bulldogs, who had only one substitution for the first two games and no reserves for the final two games, won one of the four games.

“They got a lot of good experience and playing time,” Williams said.