STANFORD, Calif. – Coming off its sixth NCAA championship in the past nine seasons, Stanford women's water polo swept the national postseason awards when the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) announced its 2019 All-America teams. Makenzie Fischer was named ACWPC Player of the Year and John Tanner collected his sixth ACWPC Coach of the Year honor.
The Cardinal has boasted the country's national player of the year at the conclusion of seven of the past nine seasons. Maggie Steffens won in 2015 and 2017, Annika Dries did so in 2011 and 2014, Kiley Neushul claimed the award in 2012 and Melissa Seidemann was the top vote-getter in 2013. Brenda Villa was Stanford's first winner in 2001. Jackie Frank followed by nabbing the honor in both 2002 and 2003.
Stanford has swept both coach and player of the year accolades in each season of a championship during its recent title run. Tanner previously was tabbed as the best at his craft in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
A 2016 Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champion, Fischer put together one of the most impressive offensive seasons in MPSF history. The conference's player of the year scored a league-best 3.50 goals per game, the second-highest average in the MPSF over the past 15 seasons (Sarah Harris; Pacific; 2007; 3.64).
The junior scored in every one of the 24 games in which she played and poured in a career-high 84 goals, the second-most in Stanford history (Ellen Estes; 1998; 93) and a single-season record for a national champion. Fischer is sixth on Stanford's all-time scoring list with 205 career goals in just 74 games (2.77 goals per game). Estes (1997-98, 2001-02) is next on the list with 214 and Melissa Seidemann (2009-11, 13) and Lauren Silver (2006-09) are tied for the school record with 239.
Fischer is also a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award, which will be handed out tomorrow night at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
With Tanner at the helm, the Cardinal is the only women's water polo program in the nation to have competed in all 19 NCAA Championships since its inception in 2001, and has finished in the top three in the country each season since he became head coach in 1998. He has posted a career coaching record of 545-79 in 22 seasons on The Farm and will go into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on Friday, June 7 alongside 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time, first-team Cardinal All-American Jessica Steffens.
Fischer and Tanner headlined a group of six Stanford women's water polo players that claimed spots on various ACWPC All-America teams. Fischer was joined on the first team by her sister, sophomore Aria Fischer. Redshirt sophomore Emalia Eichelberger and senior Kat Klass landed on the second team and freshman Ryann Neushul the third team while sophomore Sarah Klass earned honorable mention accolades.
Aria Fischer was second on Stanford with 58 goals and third in the MPSF with a 2.42 goals per game average this season. She scored in 19 games, had 11 hat tricks and averaged a team-high 3.22 goals per game in the final nine games of the year. An All-MPSF and All-NCAA Tournament first team selection, Fischer poured in 12 goals to lead the Cardinal in scoring at the NCAA Championship, including five-goal performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
In her first season as Stanford's starting goalkeeper, Eichelberger made 8.91 saves per game and posted a 7.27 goals against average. Selected as the best in the cage at the NCAA Championship, the redshirt sophomore made seven saves in the semifinals against UCLA and nine in the title game against USC, holding the Trojans scoreless over the game's final 11 minutes. Eichelberger had four double-digit save performances throughout the course of the year, including a career-high 16 stops in the MPSF Tournament championship against USC.
Voted to the All-NCAA Tournament second team and All-MPSF second team, Kat Klass was fourth on the team with 37 goals and 13th in the MPSF in goals per game (1.54). She scored in 22 games and had 11 multi-goal efforts, including three hat tricks, and put in the 150th and final goal of her career to tie the game midway through the third quarter of the NCAA final against USC.
The MPSF Newcomer of the Year, Neushul was an All-NCAA Tournament first-team selection after scoring back-to-back game winners in the semifinals and championship. The freshman was fifth on the team in scoring with 35 goals and 17th in the conference in goals per game (1.40). Forty percent of her scoring output came in the season's final eight games (14 of 35) and she had four hat tricks among her nine multi-goal performances.
Sarah Klass, who totaled seven goals as a freshman a year ago, exploded for 42 in her sophomore season, the third-most on the team. Her 1.68 goals per game average was 10th in the league. Klass scored in 20 games and had 13 multi-goal efforts, including five hat tricks.
