Lindsay Fraser is on pace to make history.
She’s scored 106 goals for the Glenbrook North girls water polo team this season and she is just three away from the school’s single-season record.
In spite of her prodigious success, Fraser started playing water polo just two years ago.
“I hadn’t really heard of it,” said Fraser, a junior. “I was almost not going to play, but then I figured I should give it a try and I’m pretty glad I did.”
Glenbrook North (14-4) is glad, too, because Fraser is a part of a team that is scrapping its way to success.
When senior goalie Kerry Goodspeed went down with a concussion earlier this season, the team’s top defender, senior Megan Reid, became goalie. On offense, Fraser moved into the hole position, the physically-challenging spot right in front of the net. She’s been able to utilize backhand and step-back shots to score despite limited experience at the position.
“It’s definitely an adjustment,” Fraser said. “I’m still getting used to it, but it’s fun to have a change and still be able to help out the team in any way I can.”
Many of her goals have come from breakaway passes from Goodspeed, and junior driver/wing Colleen Doolan feeds Fraser alley-oops on breakaways, too.
According to her coach, Fraser is just as interested in racking up assists.
“When we give her the ball and they double-team her, somebody’s open,” Spartans coach Robin Walker said. “She kicks it out and she makes other team members better because they become shooters, and now they can’t double-team. They got to stay honest to everyone. Eventually, as the game goes on, she gets more opportunities.”
Fraser plays club for Winnetka’s North Beach Water Polo, and she’s traveled to California to play in the Junior Olympics. That experience has helped her lead the team more effectively, as she, Goodspeed and a few others are the only Spartans who play club.
“I always joke that I have no idea what’s going on, I’m just the person who swims back and forth,” said Doolan, who’s on the swim team but doesn’t play water polo outside of the high school season. “So she’s really stepped up this year, her and Kerry, and they’ve been teaching the team some new techniques, some new ways to run an offense rather than relying on some of those breakaways.”
Two years ago, Fraser was a freshman in her first season of water polo, and she was on the bench to see Mary Claire Seeberg set the school’s goal record.
“I just thought it was so awesome,” Fraser said. “So to be able to even be near that is really cool and I think I’d be pretty happy if I broke it.”
