Friday, June 5, 1998
Bruins win Everything of the Year honors
AWARDS: Water Polo Coaches Association heaps accolades on UCLA
players, coach
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Staff
Weeks after winning their third consecutive national
championship, several members of the UCLA women’s water polo team
have been selected for honors by the American Water Polo Coaches
Association.
The 1998 UCLA All-Americans: Senior goalie Nicolle Payne and
juniors Coralie Simmons and Catharine von Schwarz made the first
team while freshman Robin Beauregard showed a promising collegiate
career by garnering second team honors. Included on the third team
and honorable mention are sophomore Erin Golaboski and junior Katie
Tennenbaum, respectively.
Coach of the Year, for the straight third year, was awarded to
UCLA head coach Guy Baker. While Baker was busy heading the U.S.
Women’s National Team, UCLA assistant coach Adam Krikorian readily
shared his enthusiasm for the head honcho.
"The honors keep rolling in for that guy, but I should’ve been
the coach of the year!" Krikorian joked.
He then cleared his throat and carried on in a more serious
manner. "It’s just a reflection of what he’s done here at UCLA," he
said. "Building this program four years ago to winning the
championship in the second year on tells it all. He’s the main
reason why both the men’s and women’s programs are where they
are."
"We all love him, so it’s great that he got it," added Payne,
the team captain.
Besides being All-American, Simmons was also named Player of the
Year, accepting the honor for second consecutive year. She topped
all her previous years with record 74 goals this season.
"I’m going to Disneyland. No, I’m going to Magic Mountain!" she
smiled. "But seriously, I think our whole team should be Players of
the Year because winning is such a team effort."
Said Krikorian, "I don’t think there’s anyone who can argue with
it: (Simmons) has been the most dominant player this year and she
deserves it.
"Besides making the most goals and all that, she makes things
happen in the water – she creates things to happen. She drives her
teammates to be a lot better."
Other Bruins have also shown improvement from previous seasons.
Although the rise in goals scored per season is explained by the
fact that the team is playing more games per season, the numbers
are still very high.
With 59 goals scored this season, Von Schwarz came close to
Simmons’ last season record of 60 goals. Golaboski would’ve beaten
Simmons’ old record with 65 goals scored.
Such a field squad makes a goalie’s job much easier. Well, easy
isn’t the word to describe Payne’s four years at UCLA, but she sure
made it look like a breeze.
This year’s All-American honor marks Payne’s fourth. She has
made 225 total saves and 2.77 goals against average to finish a
successful college career.
"It’s another bonus to being able to win the championship," she
said. "It’s an honor. And as for Coralie being Player of the Year,
she’s just the best."
Wait, isn’t Payne herself supposed to be the best? Or was it von
Schwarz? The thing about these water polo players is that they’ll
enthusiastically and boldly claim every other teammate is the
best.
So who’s to believe? Lets just say there are multiple "bests" on
this team and leave it at that.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
Junior Coralie Simmons, who scored 74 goals this season, was
named Player of the Year.