Rally, semifinal aspirations fall short for La Cañada girls’ water polo
DIAMOND BAR – Twice within a goal of pulling even with the No. 1 seed, the La Cañada High girls’ water polo team’s upset bid fell short in Saturday morning’s CIF Southern Section Division II quarterfinals.
The host Spartans pushed San Clemente, but were defeated, 11-9, at Diamond Bar High.
With the loss, La Cañada concluded the season with an 18-11 record, a third straight Rio Hondo League title and advancement to at least the quarterfinal round for a third consecutive postseason.
Those accomplishments mixed with the sting of a close loss produced a mélange of bittersweet emotions.
“When the [pairings] came out, I knew we had a difficult path, but difficulty has been our path the entire year,” said La Cañada coach Ian Davidson, whose Spartans defeated San Clemente, 4-3, on Jan. 26. “We’ve had a challenging schedule and I’m definitely proud of the girls.
“We had our chances, but we were playing a really good team, the No. 9 seed in all of CIF and No. 1 in our division. At the end of the day, it was a great season.”
Spartans junior Genevieve Fraipont tallied a season-high five goals and two assists, while sophomore Teresa Fundtner added three goals, junior goalie Carolyne Stern finished with seven saves and two steals and junior Julia Nicholls contributed two assists.
Sophomore attacker Caroline Christl paced the South Coast League champion Tritons (21-8) with four goals, while senior Allison Echelberger and junior Brooklyn Aguilera added three goals each. San Clemente’s most impactful player was senior goalie Sophia Noble, who was stellar in finishing with 12 saves.
San Clemente led the contest by five midway through the third quarter, but witnessed a 4-0 run by the Spartans capped by a six-on-five goal from junior Madison Solares off an assist from Nicholls bring La Cañada within 7-6 with 5:31 left in the game.
That surge was met by a counterpunch, as the Tritons scored nine seconds later with a man-advantage goal from Christl.
La Cañada again closed to within a goal at 8-7 thanks to a score form Fraipont off a Solares assist with 4:52 remaining.
Again, however, the Tritons reestablished a two-goal lead with a rebound score from Echelberger at 4:34 to lead, 9-7.
La Cañada never pulled any closer and was emphatically denied with 1:58 left when Noble blocked a five-meter penalty shot that would have brought La Cañada within one.
The denial was part of a frustrating pattern for La Cañada, which also finished two for six on six-on five chances.
“The biggest thing for us is that someone needed to get it done offensively and no one was doing it,” Fraipont said. “We were kind of all looking at each other and no one was stepping up and I kind of went into it because no one else was.”
To the Spartans’ credit, the contest’s frantic last few minutes seemed unlikely as La Cañada went 12 minutes and 57 seconds between goals and was outscored during the stretch, 5-0, to trail, 7-2, midway through the third.
San Clemente led, 4-2, after one quarter and, 5-2, at the half.
Two goals from Fraipont and a score from Fundtner off a Fraipont assist suddenly brought La Cañada within 7-5 heading to the fourth.
“This game was really competitive and I feel like that’s what we’ve been training for all season,” Stern said. “For league, we came out strong and for CIF we came out even stronger. I know we lost, but I’m still proud of my team.”
Twitter: @campadresports
