TRITONS HEAD TO BOSTON
The NCAA Women’s Water Polo Committee has announced the teams that will participate in the 2013 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship.
The championship will be held May 10-12 at Blodgett Pool in Boston. Harvard will serve as the host institution.
The No. 1 seed was awarded to Southern California (24-1) and the No. 2 seed was awarded to Stanford (27-2). Stanford, the two-time defending national champion, will face No. 7 seed Iona (21-8) May 10 in the first game of the championship at 1:45 p.m. ET. The next game will feature No. 3 seed UCLA (26-6) and No. 6 seed Princeton (26-5) at 3:30 p.m. Southern California will face Pomona-Pitzer (18-16) in the third game of the day at 5:15 p.m. The final contest of the day will pit No. 5 seed UC San Diego (25-13) against No. 4 seed Hawaii (21-9) at 7 p.m.
Coach of the Year Added to Year-End Honors
LOS ANGELES (May 3, 2013) – UC San Diego Head Coach Brad Kreutzkamp was named the 2013 WWPA Coach of the Year after leading the Tritons to the 2013 WWPA Championship last weekend and a trip to the upcoming NCAA tournament.
Kreutzkamp led the Tritons to one of its best seasons in school history at 25-13 overall and No. 11 in the national polls. The Coach of the Year honor is voted on by the league’s eight coaches following the annual championships.
Prior to the championships, the 2013 WWPA Postseason Honor were released. Junior Sarah Lizotte has been named the Western Water Polo Association Women’s Player of the Year while Colorado State freshman Ariel Arcidiacono has been named Newcomer of the Year in the WWPA’s annual end of the season awards voted on by the coaches.
All told 27 student-athletes were honored for their performance in the pool this 2013 season, including five freshmen earning a spot on one of the three All-WWPA teams. Youth was the theme within the WWPA this season as six of the seven first-team All-WWPA selections are a junior or younger.
In addition to the Player of the Year honor for Lizotte, she earned first-team All-WWPA for the second consecutive season. Joining her for the second straight year on the first-team is LMU junior Alexandra Honny. The remaining first-team members are all newcomers, paving the way for their teams’ success this season with standout performances. Also earning All-WWPA first-team honors is UC San Diego junior Melissa Bartow, CSU East Bay junior Sara Hudyn, UC San Diego freshman goalie Courtney Miller, Santa Clara redshirt freshman Julia Peters and Colorado State senior Shelby Schaefer. See full list at left for all the 2013 honors...
UC San Diego wins 2013 WWPA crown.
SANTA CLARA, Calif (Apr. 28, 2013) – UC San Diego used a 5-1 run in the first half to push them to a 10-8 win over LMU in the 2013 Western Water Polo Association Women’s Championship, earning the league’s automatic bid the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship May 10-12. Tied at 2-2, the Tritons got three goals in the decisive run by tournament MVP Melissa Bartow to improve to 25-13 on the season. LMU finishes 20-13.
Bartow finished with five goals and the Tritons’ defense allowed just three goals in the second half to stay at arms length the rest of the way. LMU was led by junior Alexandra Honny with four goals. Both freshman goalies - UCSD’s Courtney Miller and LMU’s Claire Wright - had 10 goals each.
The teams traded goals to start the first quarter and after Jolene Guiliana scored to tie the game at 2-2, it started a three goal run that saw the Tritons go up 5-2. Freshman Ivana Castro would end the run, cutting the lead to 5-3 with 3:51 to play.
UC San Diego wasn’t done as they rattled off two more goals - the first by Bartow and the second by Sarah Lizotte to go up 7-3. The teams would trade goals to end the half with UC San Diego up 8-5.
The Tritons defense never allowed the Lions to get back-to-back goals until the final five minutes of the game when the Lions cut the lead to two. The Tritons held, getting a save from Miller in the closing minute to ice it.
