CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year
Jordan LaCour earned the SCIAC Women's Water Polo Newcomer of the Year Award in a vote of the conference's coaches, the SCIAC office announced today.
Five Athenas also were on the All-SCIAC teams, with
Grace Clark,
Isabel Del Villar and
Valerie Wraith each capturing spots on the first team, and
Caitlin Muñoz and
Elise Power earning second-team selections.
LaCour finished her first regular season with the Athenas with 35 goals and nine assists. She had six hat tricks on the season, including four-goal games against Concordia and Redlands. She also drew a team-high 36 exclusions, with eight against McKendree and five against CSU Northridge. Her honor marks the third season in a row that an Athena has earned SCIAC Newcomer of the Year accolades.
Clark earned the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Award in 2023, and makes her third appearance on the All-SCIAC first team. She has a team-high 100 points this season entering the SCIAC Tournament, with 68 goals and 32 assists to her credit, and has scored goals in 25 of 27 games. She has 15 games of three goals or more, including a season-high six in a win over Whittier.
Wraith earned the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Award last season and repeats as a first-team All-SCIAC selection. She has tallied 61 goals and 23 assists through the end of the regular season, and has at least one point in every game except Division I Loyola Marymount. She had a season-high five goals against Occidental, and a season-high seven points (three goals, four assists) against La Verne.
Del Villar earns her first appearance on the All-SCIAC first team, after earning second-team honors last season. She finished the regular season with 45 goals and 25 assists, and has either a goal or an assist in all 27 games this season. She had a season-high four goals in a win over UC Merced, and a season-high four assists in a win over Whittier.
Muñoz earned her first selection to the All-SCIAC teams, although she was an honorable mention All-America selection from the Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Association in 2023. She has tallied 37 goals and 26 assists this season, and had a memorable performance in a 12-11 win over Brown, scoring six goals, including five in the fourth-quarter to lead CMS from a four-goal deficit, including the buzzer-beating game-winner.
Power earned her first postseason honor in her senior season, after stepping up with 31 goals. She closed the season strong, with three hat tricks in the last five games, including one against Pomona-Pitzer in a narrow 7-5 defeat. She also scored three times in a win over Division I Santa Clara earlier this year.
CMS will open SCIAC play tomorrow night with a home game against Chapman at 7 p.m. The winner will move on to Saturday's championship game, and will also receive a bid to the USA Water Polo Division III Championships on May 3-4 at Augustana College.
