La Cañada girls’ water polo trio grabs All-CIF honors
In winning a third straight Rio Hondo League championship, the La Cañada High girls’ water polo team turned to a trio that’s been together for the entire title drive.
Carolyne Stern, Genevieve Fraipont and Madison Solares have formed an impressive nucleus that’s guided the Spartans on one of their most successful runs in program history. In addition to winning the league title, the trio helped the Spartans advance to the CIF Southern Section Division II quarterfinals.
Stern, Fraipont and Solares compiled impressive seasons, culminating in them each picking up All-CIF Division II recognition Monday. The CIF Southern Section office unveiled first teams for all seven divisions.
“It’s a rather remarkable group of players,” La Cañada first-year coach Ian Davidson said. “They each bring something to the game and they just continue to keep getting better at their position. It’s great to have some players pick up this kind of recognition.”
Stern, a junior goalkeeper, received a first-team nod.
Stern finished with 227 saves and 27 assists.
“Without a doubt, I think Carolyne is the best goalkeeper in the division,” Davidson said. “She anchored our defense and she often started our offense after making a big save. People were afraid to shoot against her.”
Fraipoint earned a spot on the second team as a junior driver.
Fraipont collected a team-high 52 goals and added 21 assists.
“Genevieve is a great athlete and she was solid in terms of leading us on the transition,” Davidson said. “She could always go on a goal-scoring tear and she had some big goals in our playoff win against Agoura.”
Solares, a junior hole/guard, recorded 48 goals and 41 assists to receive third-team accolades.
“With Maddy, she could be depended upon in all situations,” Davidson said. “She played great defense and she quarterbacked our offense.”
La Cañada (18-10, 8-0 in league) opened the playoffs with a 5-4 victory against Agoura before falling to top-seed San Clemente, 11-9, in the quarterfinals.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
