Falcons throttle Warriors
LA CRESCENTA — With the steam constantly rising from the heated pool and a steady drizzle falling throughout their match, the members of the Crescenta Valley High girls’ water team had little trouble adjusting to the conditions.
The environment might not have been the most favorable, but the Falcons made sure to block out the elements and used a first-quarter scoring barrage to hammer home the point in a convincing 19-3 nonleague home victory against Alemany on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s just harder to play in the rain with all of the steam, but you have to still go out there and play as hard as you can,” said Crescenta Valley senior utility player Rachel Krebsbach, who finished with three goals to help the Falcons improve to 12-2. “You want to get ahead and set the tone.”
Crescenta Valley, which will have a two-week stretch without a match before beginning Pacific League play with a home match against Hoover on Jan. 5, received a balanced scoring attack. The Falcons, who won the league championship and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinals last season, scored six goals in a four-minute stretch in the first quarter that ultimately dismantled Alemany (2-5).
Krebsbach teamed up with senior utility players Claire Nolan and Kim Fraisse, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year, for two goals apiece in the first quarter. Fraisse finished with a match-high four goals.
Crescenta Valley Coach Pete Loporchio said a fast start was necessary.
“It’s important to set the tone early and start shooting,” said Loporchio, whose team owned an 11-2 halftime lead. “We shot pretty efficiently in the first quarter and it’s a nice way to go into our break.
“We’ve played a lot of top-10 teams during the first part of the season. We’ve basically played everybody on our team extensively and we are going to have some hard training going into league.”
Crescenta Valley scored two goals in a 12-second stretch early in the third quarter to make it 8-0 before the Warriors responded with a pair of goals 41 seconds apart midway through the quarter to cut the deficit to 8-2.
The Falcons received three goals from Karina Alvarez, two from Stefanie Loporchio and Nolan and one each from Shelby Gregg, Naiyri Kechichian, Sabrina Hatzer, Christine Cho and Daniella Khatchetourian.
The Warriors got a pair of goals from Maya Donnelly and one from Melissa Pinlac.
Crescenta Valley got three saves from goalkeeper Dakota Davy-Bertram and three from Gregg.
