2013 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-American Team
Hawaii senior Monika Eggens became the Big West's inaugural first team All-American as The Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches today announced its 2013 NCAA Division I All-American teams.
Eggens highlighted the list of Big West representatives, which featured a total of 17 honorees.
Eggens, a 6-2 attacker, established Big West single-season records for goals (101) and goals per game (3.06) in a dominating display of offensive prowess. She also tied the conference tournament record for most goals with nine, earning Most Valuable Player honors and leading the Rainbow Wahine to the tournament championship.
The native of Pitt Meadows, British Columbia added eight goals in three games at the 2013 NCAA Tournament to capture All-Tournament First Team accolades. Her postseason scoring exploits enabled her to leave UH as the school's all-time goals leader with 252.
Eggens took her place on the All-American First Team alongside Flora Bolonyai, Anni Espar and Monica Vavic of national champion USC; Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens of national runner-up Stanford; and UCLA's Rachel Fattal.
UH senior Amarens Genee and San Diego State senior Amber Pezzolla notched ACWPC Third Team All-American honors.
Genee had a stellar season for the Rainbow Wahine as she finished sixth in the Big West with 64 goals. Genee helped UH to a final national ranking of No. 6 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association poll and a 22-11 overall record.
Pezzolla enjoyed a sterling final campaign as an Aztec after topping the team in goals (71) and steals (69), while ranking second on the squad in assists (38). Pezzolla's goal total ranked fourth-best in the Big West and No. 9 in the conference's single-season record book. Her 2.09 goals per game also placed her at No. 9 on the conference's single-season list.
All eight Big West schools were represented with All-American honorees as the conference accumulated an additional 14 student-athletes on the honorable mention list.
Sophomore Taelor Moreno gave SDSU two honorees. Other schools with multiple honorees included Cal State Northridge (Marisa Young and Lindsy Nelson); Long Beach State (Christina Kotsia, Chelsea Parks and Melissa Matheson); UC Davis (Jessica Dunn and Carmen Eggert); UC Irvine (Jillian Yocum, Hannah Croghan and Kelsey Klatt); and Pacific (Taylor Adair and Michele Relton). UC Santa Barbara freshman sensation Samantha Murphy rounded out the list of honorable mention recipients.
UC Irvine leads all Big West schools with nine All-Americans and 13 total citations since the conference began sponsoring women's water polo in 2009.