Breaking the mold

Talented and complete all-around players have routinely come through the pipeline the past decade to eventually star for the Crescenta Valley High girls’ water polo team.

When the chips were down, an athlete like Jessie Stiles, Kristin McLaughlin or Lybov Tchougounova would rise up and become the go-to player the Falcons needed to carry them to a victory or a wealth of Pacific League championships.

These days, Crescenta Valley has another player in that mold in Kim Fraisse, who didn’t begin playing water polo until four years ago. Since then, she’s earned plenty of recognition with her ability to shoot with pinpoint accuracy and hustle back on defense to break up counter-attacks.

Fraisse’s body of work has been recognized throughout the league and CIF Southern Section Division IV.

“I’ve always tried to put my best effort in every game,” said Fraisse, a junior utility player who finished with a program-record 129 goals and team-best 53 steals to lead the Falcons (26-5) to the league crown. “Even when I was tired, I tried to keep going.

“I never got to see Kristin or Lybov play, but I knew Lybov from club. She was really good and I looked up to her.”

Fraisse’s teammates have looked up to her the way players did to McLaughlin and Tchougounova during their respective stints with the Falcons. She recently earned All-CIF first-team honors and was named the league’s co-most valuable player with teammate Sofie Munoz. It is for those reasons that Fraisse was voted the 2010 All-Area Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year by the sports writers and editors of the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun.

Fraisse, a three-year varsity player, helped the Falcons go 8-0 in league. She finished with a match-high seven goals to spur the Falcons to a 12-7 win against Pasadena in the league’s tournament championship match at Burbank on Feb. 11, the same day in which she eclipsed the program’s goal-scoring standard.

“The thing with Kim was her ability to take over a game single-handedly,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Pete Loporchio, whose team advanced to the quarterfinals for the third season in a row. “Kim can do it all on offense and defense.”