SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Regular season champions Pacific, ranked fifth nationally, claimed three of the four individual awards as the West Coast Conference announced its 2024 Men’s Water Polo All-Conference and end-of-season honors Wednesday.
All awards were voted on solely by the Conference’s seven head coaches.
The All-WCC First and Second Teams each consist of six field players of any position and one goalkeeper.
Pacific, guided by WCC Coach of the Year James Graham, finished the regular season with an overall record of 18-1 and a perfect 6-0 mark in WCC play. Two Tiger players joined their coach as major award recipients as Mihailo Vukazic was named WCC Player of the Year and Olivér Fodor was selected as the WCC Newcomer of the Year. Pepperdine’s Erik Ionescu claimed the final major individual award as he was named the WCC Freshman of the Year. The Conference's Newcomer of the Year award represents the top non-freshman student-athlete in their first year competing in the WCC, as voted on by the head coaches. The WCC Freshman of the Year award honors the top student-athlete in their first year of collegiate competition, as voted on by the head coaches.
Vukazic, a senior from Serbia, was the best player on the WCC’s best team as he totaled 15 goals and seven assists to go with a .455 shooting percentage during conference action. He added seven steals to go with season highs of four goals and four assists. Vukazic led the conference with three KAP7 WCC Player of the Week awards.
A graduate student from Wagner, Fodor contributed six goals and five drawn exclusions for the Tigers during WCC play. He started all six matches and had a .429 shooting percentage. Fodor posted a season-best three goals in Pacific's win over Pepperdine in the regular season finale to help the Tigers clinch the WCC regular season title and top seed in this week's WCC Tournament.
Ionescu helped lead No. 9 Pepperdine to an overall record of 20-7 and a 5-1 mark in conference play to finish second in the WCC. He totaled a team-best 13 goals in conference play to go with six assists and three steals. Ionescu was a three-time KAP7 WCC Newcomer of the Week recipient this season.
Pacific led the WCC with two players on the All-WCC First Team (Reuel D'Souza and Vukazic) and two on the second team (Jeremie Cote and Bae Fountain). Other schools with multiple All-WCC selections include San Jose State with two first-team honorees (Mateja Bosic and Brendon Gyapjas) and one second-teamer (Bence Szabo), Pepperdine with one player on the first team (Christian Hosea) and one on the second team (Adam Csapo), and California Baptist posting two second-team players (Bodhi Bowden and Caleb Teraoka). Santa Clara (Zach Fales), Air Force (Tom Leggett), and LMU (Abel Romero Corbalan) were all represented with one All-WCC selection.
Pepperdine had two All-WCC Honorable Mention selections in Ionescu and Sandor Gal. Santa Clara also had two representatives earn honorable mention recognition in Luke Baird and Riccardo De Simon. Pacific's Matthew Hosmer, California Baptist's Toring Stanley and Air Force's Jacob Yi were each All-WCC Honorable Mention selections.
The seven teams will head to Stockton, California, and the University of the Pacific campus to compete in the 2024 WCC Men's Water Polo Tournament. Action begins this Friday, culminating with Sunday's championship match at 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
2024 WCC MEN'S WATER POLO AWARDS
Player of the Year - Mihailo Vukazic, Pacific
Newcomer of the Year - Olivér Fodor, Pacific
Freshman of the Year - Erik Ionescu, Pepperdine
Coach of the Year - James Graham, Pacific
All-WCC First Team
Mateja Bosic, San Jose State
Reuel D'Souza, Pacific
Zach Fales, Santa Clara
Brendon Gyapjas, San Jose State
Christian Hosea, Pepperdine
Tom Leggett, Air Force
Mihailo Vukazic, Pacific
All-WCC Second Team
Bodhi Bowden, California Baptist
Jeremie Cote, Pacific
Adam Csapo, Pepperdine
Bae Fountain, Pacific
Abel Romero Corbalan, LMU
Bence Szabo, San Jose State
Caleb Teraoka, California Baptist
Honorable Mention
Luke Baird, Santa Clara
Riccardo De Simon, Santa Clara
Sandor Gal, Pepperdine
Matthew Hosmer, Pacific
Erik Ionescu, Pepperdine
Toring Stanley, California Baptist
Jacob Yi, Air Force