Rematch with Titans looms in semis

With four All-CIF honorees at the core of a large group of players returning this season, the defending champion Temescal Canyon High girls' water polo team likely didn't shock anyone by once again making it to the final four of the CIF Southern Section Division V finals. What may be slightly more surprising is that for the second year in a row, the second-seeded Titans will be matched up against Crescenta Valley in the semifinals at 6 p.m. tonight at Mount San Antonio College.

The Falcons lost their CIF first-team tandem of Kim Fraisse and Adrienne Ingalla, as well as second-teamer Christine Cho, to graduation and yet have arrived at tonight's rematch as the No. 3 seed sporting a perfect 31-0 record.

"It's really been an incredible journey," Falcons Coach Pete Loporchio said. "If you just looked on paper at where we began in terms of the returning number of players we have compared to the Temescal Canyons or the Bonitas, [the Falcons] have really done a tremendous job in terms of putting us in this position."

Fraisse, the All-Area Girls' Player of the Year last year, may have been irreplaceable as a pure scorer, but depth has been the key for the Falcons in their run to the Pacific League title and through the first two rounds of the playoffs with wins over Fontana and Los Altos.

All-CIF third-team attackers Breanna Lawton, a junior, and Sabrina Hatzer, a senior, are the some of the most experienced veterans of last year's season-ending 10-9 loss to the Titans (24-5), a group that also includes senior attacker Stefanie Loporchio and sophomore Shannon Hovanesian.

"The ones that are returning understand the significance and understand the tempo of this Temescal team," Coach Loporchio said. "They know what needs to be done, we just need to be able to execute our game plan correctly."

For the Falcons, that will largely mean looking to run their motion offense in the halfcourt set and spread the Titans' defense out with their large number of scoring options.

"We have more players that score more often on our team than they have," Lawton said. "I think with our wider range of ability to score, that will help us a lot."

Added Stefanie Loporchio: "I think teams respect us as an offensive opponent. They can't just focus on taking down one person, they have to focus on all of us shooting."