With her team trailing 1-0, Torrey Pines field hockey coach Kari DiGiulio took her players out of earshot for their halftime meeting. Judging from the violent movements of her arms and stern clapping of her hands, DiGiulio was either reenacting Tuesday night's “Dancing With the Stars” or giving her players an earful.
Whatever was said worked, though players opted not to comment on the specifics. The Falcons came out blazing in the second half, erasing the deficit for a 2-1 victory over Fallbrook in the San Diego Section Division I semifinals last night at Torrey Pines High.
The top-seeded Falcons (21-4) move on to Saturday's final, where they will face No. 3 San Pasqual, a 2-0 winner over Vista in yesterday's other semifinal.
Fallbrook (14-10-1) looked more like the top seed in the first half, pushing the tempo and jumping to a 1-0 lead on a short-corner goal from Christine Russell, who made the initial entry pass before mopping up a missed shot for the goal.
“I think we were a little unprepared for the intensity they brought at the beginning of the game,” said Torrey Pines' Paige Simmons, whose team defeated Fallbrook 3-0 and 2-0 during the regular season. “They had us on our heels.”
Then DiGiulio went into her halftime tirade – even losing her wedding ring for a couple of minutes in the process.
“No doubt we were overconfident,” said DiGiulio, who is making her fifth finals appearance as Falcons coach. “Fallbrook played at a different level today.”
Torrey Pines evened the score on a short-corner goal from Sheridan Edwards 12 minutes into the second half. Chelsea Yogerst produced the winning goal with 4:13 to play.
“I don't remember much, other than I kept telling myself I was going to score,” Edwards said. “It all starts with a great entry pass and we got that from Meghan (O'Rourke). We knew we had to eventually get one in.”
The Falcons held a significant 13-5 advantage on short corners and outshot the Warriors 13-1. In an outstanding effort, Fallbrook goalkeeper Jahna Jordan made eight saves.
Kevin Gemmell: (619) 718-5304; kevin.gemmell@uniontrib.com
