SAN DIEGO – Six San Diego State water polo players have earned All-Golden Coast Conference designation, including goalie Raquel de Pinho who is the league's Newcomer of the Year, it was announced today from the league office in Aliso Viejo, Calif.
In addition to her Newcomer of the Year honor, de Pinho, along with utility Emily Bennett, were named first-team performers. Drivers Karli Canale and Spencer Samuel were recognized as a second team and honorable mention honorees, respectively. Among the All-Freshman teams, utility Laurene Padilla was a first-team performer and center Faith Cerussi earned second-team designation. The honors are based solely on league games and six all-conference awards are the most in a season in program history.
A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, de Pinho played in every conference game and led the league in saves (73) and saves per game (10.4). She was the leader in save percentage (.593) among goalies who had at least 35 saves and for goalies who played at least six of the seven league contests, her 7.54 goals against average was the second highest in the conference. In four of the seven GCC games, she recorded double digit saves, including a major college career best 19 in a 13-12 victory over then No. 9 Fresno State. She allowed the opponent to score 10 or more goals just twice in league action. In addition, three of her six assists came in Golden Coast Conference play, as did eight of her 13 steals, including a season-best three at Azusa Pacific (March 31). She is the second Aztec to earn GCC Newcomer of the Year, joining 2014 recipient Ioli Benekou, and is the first San Diego State goalie to be named first-team All-Golden Coast Conference. She finished with a 6-1 record in GCC games, the best record in the league.
Bennett, a senior out of Oakdale, Calif., earned her third All-GCC honor and second first-team selection, after garnering the distinction in 2019. In the seven-game GCC slate, she led the Aztecs with 22 goals, 34 points and tied for the team lead in assists (12). Among players in the conference, Bennett was first in points, tied for second in goals, fourth in blocks (7), fifth in assists and tied for sixth in steals (10). Bennett was named the GCC Player of the Week for the week ending on March 31 after totaling seven goals on 11 shots with four assists and three steals in wins over then No. 9 Fresno State and No. 20 Azusa Pacific.
A senior, Canale earned her first All-GCC honor following the best campaign of her college career. The sharpshooter set career bests in total shots (128), goals (51), assists (17) and blocks (10). In GCC games, she was a starter in all seven, she scored 18 goals, had 12 assists, totaled 30 points and had 13 steals and eight blocks. Her steals and blocks led the team and her assists were tied for the most on the squad, while her goals and points ranked second. Among GCC performers, she tied for first in blocks, was third in points and steals, fifth in assists, and tied for sixth in goals. The La Jolla High School product recorded multiple goals in six of seven GCC contests, including hat tricks at Santa Clara (March 12), against Azusa Pacific (March 31) and at Concordia (April 9). She had four games of multiple assists, five games of multiple steals and a pair of games with multiple blocks in seven league contests.
Samuel, a native of San Diego, hit her stride in Golden Coast Conference play. She totaled 12 of her 18 goals and nine of 19 assists in league games and she added seven steals. For the year, the junior out of Valhalla High School, set career-best in every statistical category including goal, assists, shots (50), points (37), shot percentage (.360), exclusions drawn (23), steals (17) and blocks (2). She totaled four multi-goal games with three of them coming in GCC play and each was a hat trick. Her lone multi-assist effort came against then No. 9 Fresno State. Among her four multi-steal games, two came in the final three contests of the regular season. This is the first All-GCC honor of Samuel's collegiate career.
Padilla finished the GCC season with five goals, eight assists and 13 points in seven games. She had seven steals, three exclusions drawn and a shooting percentage of .313 (5-of-16). In the conference opener at Santa Clara (March 12), she recorded the first hat trick of her college career and in that game equaled a single-game best with three assists. Her three steals at Azusa Pacific were also a season best. In seven GCC games, the Carlsbad High School product totaled four games with multiple assists.
Cerussi competed in five of the seven conference games scoring two goals, assisting on one other for six points. Her goals came against Santa Clara (March 12) and against Loyola Marymount (March 20), and in the LMU game she added an assist for a season-best two points. Along with Padilla, this is the sixth straight season San Diego State has had a player included on the All-Freshman teams, but the first time it has had multiple honorees.
The Aztecs are the 2-seed in this week's GCC tournament in Stockton, Calif., and will take on the host and 3-seed Pacific at 12 p.m. PT on Friday. A victory in that game and San Diego State will play for the Golden Coast Conference title, and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, on Saturday at noon.
2021 All-Golden Coast Conference Women's Water Polo Awards
San Diego State honorees
Raquel de Pinho (Newcomer of the Year, first-team All-GCC)
Emily Bennett (first-team All-GCC)
Karli Canale (second-team All-GCC)
Spencer Samuel (honorable mention All-GCC)
Laurene Padilla (first-team All-Freshman)
Faith Cerussi (second-team All-Freshman)
-SDSU-