Six 805 Santa Barbara Water Polo Club collegians made their mark on the list of 2016 All-America Teams, chosen by the American Collegiate Water Polo Association.
Jamie Neushul (Dos Pueblos High/Stanford) received first-team All-American honors in Division 1. Neushul’s 49 goals led the Cardinal in scoring and her average of 1.69 goals per game was fifth overall in the PAC 12 Conference. She scored in 20 games, topped the team in both multi-goal efforts (15) and hat tricks (11) and was selected to both the All-NCAA Tournament first team and the All-MPSF first team. The junior was named to the Honorable Mention All-America teams in her previous two seasons.
Amanda Longan (Oaks Christian/USC) also was named to the first team. Longan anchored USC in goal during her freshman season, helping lead the Trojans to an undefeated 34-0 season and the Division I NCAA Championship. After collecting five MPSF Newcomer of the Week awards during the regular season, the freshman was named the MPSF Tournament MVP and was named to the All-MPSF First Team. Longan gathered in 145 saves for the season, averaging double digits with 10.4 saves per game.
Kelsey O’Brien (UCLA/SBHS) was named to the Honorable Mention All-American team after helping lead the Bruins to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. O’Brien, an attacker, recorded 25 goals and 20 assists on the season. Defensively, she tallied 11 blocks and a team-high 41 steals. The junior earned MPSF All-Academic honors for her performance both in and out of the pool. This is O’Brien’s first ACWPC All-America honor.
Maud Koopman (SBWPC/Arizona State) joined O’Brien on the Honorable Mention team. Koopman was a freshman sensation for the Sun Devils, leading the team in just about every major statistical category, including 35 goals, 35 assists, and 39 steals. The Dutch attacker was named to the MPSF All-Newcomer team and became just the third ASU freshman to be named an All-American in ASU women’s water polo history. Koopman competed for SBWPC after training with the 16U/18U during the club’s bi-annual Holland Trip.
Laurel Kistler (UCSD/DPHS), a senior attacker, received her second consecutive Division II All-America award after recording 60 goals, 48 assists and 58 steals this year. Named a first team All-American, Kistler was also honored as the 2016 WWPA Player of the Year and All-WWPA. Kistler leaves La Jolla with the third most career assists (137) and steals (193) in school history.
Jessica Gaffney (Clarement-Mudd-Scripps/SBHS), a sophomore attacker, was named to the Division III Honorable Mention All-America team. This is Gaffney’s second All-America nomination—she was named to the second team in 2015. Gaffney scored 37 goals and led the Athena’s with 47 assists to go along with 43 steals.
All of 805 Santa Barbara Water Polo’s 2016 All-America nominees competed for coaches Cathy Neushul and Connor Levoff in 18U National Junior Olympic Tournament. Many began competing as 12U’s. Neushul and O’Brien won multiple National Junior Olympic titles at 12U, 14U, 16U, and 18U age levels.