Five-time regular season conference champion Pomona-Pitzer Colleges swept the Offensive and Defensive Athlete of the Year awards as 2023 SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Year Namlhun Jachung repeated and Zosia Amberger, the 2022 Defensive Athlete of the Year, joined her atop the 2024 Women’s Water Polo All-Conference teams.
Jachung, who also earned Newcomer of the Year recognition in 2022, led the champion Sagehens in points (62) for the third time in as many seasons as well as drawing 49 exclusions in all competitions. The Sagehens have not lost a game to a conference opponent since she first arrived in Claremont.
Amberger has shared that impressive distinction as the junior has locked down the defensive end of the pool for Pomona-Pitzer the past three seasons. She recorded 221 saves and 36 steals in all competitions this year as the Sagehens limited conference opponents to a meager 4.83 goals per game.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges first-year Valerie Wraith earned Newcomer of the Year recognition. She converted a team-leading 65 goals and 19 assists in all competitions for the Athenas with a clinical .619 shot percentage in addition to drawing 19 exclusions and forcing 19 steals. She follows teammate Grace Clark who earned the award last season.
Caltech’s Emma Gurcan was presented with the Character Award in addition to her First Team All-SCIAC recognition. A talented attacker for the Beavers, she has also demonstrated exemplary character and sportsmanship through genuine interactions with officials, opponents and across the water polo community. She has been invited to give a talk on her research into ground water and sustainability at the NASA Jet propulsion Laboratory as a computer science major and environmental science and engineering minor. She will attend graduate school at Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris to pursue her PhD in earth science.
Pomona-Pitzer Associate Head Coach Alex La and the Sagehen bench were named the Coaching Staff of the Year. La has steered the Sagehens while head coach Alex Rodriguez is on sabbattical and they have not skipped a single beat, winning their fifth consecutive regular season title with an undefeated conference record. Pomona-Pitzer has been the top-ranked team in the Division III CWPA poll all spring while earning a high of No. 23 in the Varsity poll that includes Division I and II institutions.
Jachung and Amberger become three-time All-SCIAC First Team picks in addition to CMS’ Cooper McKenna, while Clark and Pomona-Pitzer’s Abigail Wiesenthal repeat as First Team selections from 2023. Gurcan and Chapman University’s Alyssa Fricker each made the jump up from Second Team recognition last season, while Emma Parker from the University of Redlands repeated on the Second Team. CMS led all teams with five total All-Conference selections, tying with Pomona-Pitzer for three on the First Team as the Sagehens recorded four total. Chapman had three players recognized while California Lutheran University, the fourth seed in the SCIAC Tournament, landed two on the First Team and the University of La Verne, which tied for fourth place, got two players onto the Second Team.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Offensive Athlete
of the Year |
Defensive Athlete
of the Year |
Newcomer
of the Year |
Character
Award |
Coaching
Staff of the Year |
Namlhun Jachung
Pomona-Pitzer |
Zosia Amberger
Pomona-Pitzer |
Valerie Wraith
CMS |
Emma Gurcan
Caltech |
Alex La
Pomona-Pitzer |
| First Team All-SCIAC |
| Name |
Institution |
Year |
Position |
Hometown |
| Namlhun Jachung |
Pomona-Pitzer |
Sr. |
ATT |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Zosia Amberger |
Pomona-Pitzer |
Jr. |
G |
Santa Barbara, Calif. |
| Grace Clark |
CMS |
So. |
UTL |
Orinda, Calif. |
| Alyssa Fricker |
Chapman |
Jr. |
ATT |
Foothill Ranch, Calif. |
| Emma Gurcan |
Caltech |
Sr. |
DR |
Portland, Ore. |
| Katie Knight |
Cal Lutheran |
Sr. |
2MO |
Houston, Texas |
| Cooper McKenna |
CMS |
Sr. |
ATT |
Mountain View, Calif. |
| Bethany Metcalfe |
Cal Lutheran |
Gr. |
ATT |
Oakdale, Calif. |
| Abigail Wiesenthal |
Pomona-Pitzer |
Sr. |
UTL |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Valerie Wraith |
CMS |
Fy. |
ATT |
Irvine, Calif. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Second Team All-SCIAC |
| Name |
Institution |
Year |
Position |
Hometown |
| Georgina Burton |
Chapman |
Sr. |
G |
Hillsborough, Calif. |
| Reiley Burton |
La Verne |
Jr. |
ATT |
La Verne, Calif. |
| Isabel Del Villar |
CMS |
So. |
ATT |
Newport Beach, Calif. |
| Brienz Lang |
Pomona-Pitzer |
So. |
UTL |
Hillsborough, Calif. |
| Kendall Pappan |
Chapman |
Fy. |
ATT |
Simi Valley, Calif. |
| Emma Parker |
Redlands |
Jr. |
UTL |
Redlands, Calif. |
| Sumi Rudisky |
La Verne |
Gr. |
UTL |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Dara Schoolcraft |
CMS |
Jr. |
DEF |
Seattle, Wash. |
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