Here’s all one needs to know about Hamilton West senior Ava Frascella.
While playing travel softball in 7th grade, she dislocated her left kneecap; then played three games that day before undergoing surgery. Asked how tough that was to endure that kind of pain all day, Frascella said, “It bothered me more to sit on that bench.”
Oh wait, there’s another thing to know. She is the Student President of West’s Unified Club, where she helps Gaby Bennett, Shannon Maher and Marissa Chiarello incorporate outside activities. Frascella has also worked with the Mercer Miracle League.
“It’s very rewarding getting to help those kids,” she said. “They’re normally included in our pep rallies and our regular experiences in school. They don’t get those experiences that I have like playing field hockey or softball. So to let them have that experience for one day and see the joy on their faces when they get to have that fun, that’s the best part.”
OK come to think of it, another important thing to know is that Ava has a 4.4 weighted (3.9 unweighted) GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.
“She’s a good student,” Hornets field hockey coach Katie Bloodgood said. “Her mom (Adria) stays on top of that.”
OK, let’s face facts. There’s actually a lot more than one thing to know about Frascella.
So much so, that the lead kind of got buried.
Maybe the coolest thing to know is that Ava broke Alyssa Langevin’s 10-year-old record for career field hockey saves this fall.
Langevin turned back 501 shots from 2012 to 2015. Frascella broke the mark while stopping 30 shots against Bordentown on Oct. 1. She also shattered Langevin’s season mark of 147 saves with 240 before getting injured and missing Hamilton’s final three games.
“It’s really great (to set the record),” Frascella said. “But I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates and my coaches. It’s a team record, not an individual record.”
But Bloodgood feels the individual deserves the record, and any accolades that come with it.
“She just has such a positive attitude and incredible work ethic,” the coach said. “She’s so motivated to do her best, not for herself but for her team. If she can get something out of it, great, but she’s there for everybody.”
“She just has that natural instinct of what to do and when to do it. I think that also ties into her softball, which she’s played all her life. She’s so coachable, Any time I try to help her or show her things she’s just so receptive and willing to do whatever it takes.”
Frascella is a coach’s dream but don’t just take Bloodgood’s word for it.
“Ava is a great kid and student of the game,” said Bennett about her third baseman. “No matter where we put her on the field she will give it her all because she wants to help the team succeed.
“Unfortunately, she has had to battle through her fair share of injures throughout her high school career but each setback has made her stronger. She is a leader on the field and a great example of perseverance.”
Since starting softball at age 5, Frascella has indeed had some issues. After the 7th-grade knee injury sidelined her, Frascella participated in an eighth-grade field hockey clinic. It was then she figured out her proper position.
She was smart enough to know her weaknesses in order to find heir strength.
“I was working as a field player and thought ‘I’m not really good at this,’” Frascella recalled. “Going into high school I said ‘Let me try to be a goalie, I play third base for softball. It shouldn’t be too hard.’ I went into my freshman year and Coach G (Judy Goldstein) was great. Her and coach B taught me everything I know. I owe it all to them.”
Goldstein was the program’s former coach who returned in 2022 while Bloodgood was on maternity leave. The current coach was still able to watch the 9th-grader play for five games and, as a former goalie herself at Bordentown High, Bloodgood knew she had something special.
“She just had that natural instinct and ability, and that’s something you can’t always coach,” she said. “You just have it on your own. She could only go up from here. The fact she wanted to do it and you’re not begging for a goalie to step in their freshman year was exciting.”
Frascella admitted surprise at immediately being named starter and she responded with 111 saves, including double-figure efforts in three games.
“It came natural to me which is kind of surprising because I never had to use my feet for anything before,” Frascella said. “I think (playing third base) helped me a lot and obviously being a goalie has helped me more at third base.”
Although she won’t try to make a kick save on a ground ball.
“Definitely not,” she said. “But I’m not scared to put my body in front of the ball.”
That’s a nice trait to have considering the amount of shots she faces each game. But her softball and hockey seasons were derailed when Frascella again dislocated her left knee in ninth grade.
“It was my first varsity minute against Notre Dame,” she recalled. “We had a couple concussions and injuries. (Rob) Farina put in some JV players, I was defending some girl and my knee dislocated.”
That caused Frascella to miss her entire freshman softball season and all but seven field hockey games in her sophomore year.
“It was terrible,” she said. “Having to do it once was OK but having to do it twice and knowing I had to sit out and wasn’t doing anything again was worse. It was frustrating because I knew I could contribute to the team. It was rough.”
Undaunted, she returned and made 71 saves and averaged 10 per game during her abbreviated sophomore season. Last year she turned back 141 shots and nearly averaged 10 saves per game again; and this season she was a shot blocking machine, hitting double figures in 11 games, saving 20 or more in five and reaching a career-high 30 in the same game she set the career record.
Frascella finished with 563 saves before another injury – this time to due to a sprain and possibly fractured foot.
“I’m hoping it heals in a few weeks,” she said in mid-October.
Despite the abrupt ending to her career, Frascella can look back on it with pride. As a former keeper, Bloodgood knows the pressure she felt each game.
“It feels like the weight of the world is sitting on your shoulders,” she said. “But you have to remember the ball has gone through so many other people before it’s gotten to you and you’re human.”
The coach said Frascella came to understand that, noting that as a younger player each goal she allowed took its toll. But she has learned to blot them from her memory.
“She’s really taken accountability and said ‘That one was my fault’ I’ll get the next one,’” Bloodgood said. “I don’t have to say anything, she’ll just say ‘I should have done this and I’ll get the next one’. We never yell at her. It’s not an easy job. You just have to be there for the next one. It’s always about the next one.”
Bloodgood faced a lot of “next ones” in her life, and it only helped her get stronger.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I think I improve every game. My eye gets better with begin able to see shots.”
Bloodgood noted that her keeper as become adept at controlling the defense in the back, but does so in a gentle way… if one can be gentle in the middle of all that chaos.
“She’s very vocal back there, yelling at marking each number,” the coach said. “But she’s always making sure not to overstep. At halftime she’ll say to a teammate ‘If I’m yelling at you it’s not like I’m really yelling at you. I’m just trying to redirect in the moment.’ She’s always trying to make sure she’s not offending anyone and that she’s there for everybody.”
Frascella hopes to remain being there for people in the future, especially kids. She plans on going to college and right now her top three choices are Pennsylvania schools Neumann, Arcadia and Immaculata. The plan is to major in pre-med and hopefully work at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) — since she has been there as a patient several times.
“The goal is to be a pediatric orthopedic doctor, but not a surgeon,” Frascella said. “I have a history at CHOP; they’ve helped me through everything.”
And Frascella has been just as helpful to friends, children and teammates during her years at West.
“She does everything and anything she can,” Bloodgood said. “She’s a phenomenal individual who’s so passionate and hard-working and only wants to do the best and be the best. She has so much patience and she’s so understanding with the Unified kids. She’s just comfortable with everything she does.”
And she does so many good things, it’s tough to keep track of how many impressive things there are to say about her.
