Freshman saves day for La Cañada girls’ water polo
La Cañada High’s Carolyne Stern makes a save during the Spartans’ win over South Pasadena on Thursday.
Leave it to a freshman to deliver for the La Cañada High girls’ water polo team on senior day.
Spartans goalie Carolyn Stern finished with 13 saves, five in a pivotal fourth quarter that helped her team hold off visiting South Pasadena, 11-7, in Rio Hondo League play Thursday afternoon.
Thursday’s contest is part of an eight-games-in-seven-days stretch for the Spartans, who won their sixth consecutive league match and improved to 13-5 and 6-1 in league.
More important, CIF Southern Section Division V second-ranked La Cañada is also in position to clinch a share of the program’s fourth-ever league title and first since 2009 should it defeat San Marino on Monday.
“When you start league play with a loss, it puts you in a big hole,” said La Cañada Coach Davey Brown, whose team opened league play with a loss to Temple City before its current league winning streak has put it into a first-place tie with the Rams. “You start to question if you can come back. I’m so proud of these girls because they’ve done that.”
La Cañada held an 8-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter against South Pasadena and, at least statistically, suffered a terrible final seven minutes.
The Spartans surrendered three six-on-five opportunities and two five-meter penalty tries, while losing the turnover and shots battles, 6-2 and 11-4, respectively.
For all those numbers, perhaps all that mattered was that La Cañada somehow won the quarter, 3-1, to secure the victory.
“Honestly, that quarter was an anomaly,” said Spartans senior Julia Nicholls, who finished with two goals. “We usually play a lot better defense than that. Fortunately, we had Carolyn back there.”
Stern was magnificent in stuffing two penalty shots in the quarter and three for the game, while the Tigers were held scoreless in their three man-advantage opportunities.
“I was just trying to make stops and go big,” Stern said. “I didn’t really think or guess, I just played.”
South Pasadena’s only fourth-quarter goal came from Sydney Shuttleroe off a rebound from a deflected penalty-shot block with 2:26 remaining that brought the Tigers within 10-7.
The goal was the last for South Pasadena, which saw La Cañada’s Caroline Daniels (four goals) add a goal with 1:33 left to cement the score at 11-7.
“We had our chances, but we’re a very young team and it’s difficult to score against La Cañada, who has a great defensive structure,” South Pasadena Coach Meaghan Paschall said. “This was a learning experience for us.”
La Cañada freshman Genevieve Fraipoint scored three of her game-high five goals in the first quarter as the Spartans led, 5-2, after one.
South Pasadena won the second quarter, 3-2, and trailed, 7-5, at the break after La Cañada increased its lead to two with 47 seconds left on a goal from Nicholls.
Both teams only netted one score in the third quarter as the Spartans led, 8-6, after three.
Mimi Zwaneveld added three goals for La Cañada, while Brittany Jarjour led the Tigers with three goals.
“This is my senior year and I’ve been here all four years,” Nicholls said. “To be at a point where we’re close to winning a league championship is crazy.
“We’ve built this from the bottom up. I remember losing every game and to be in a position where we can win league is unbelievable. We owe a lot to coach Brown. This has been special.”
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports
