Aztecs Garner 15 GCC All-Academic Team Honors

SAN DIEGO - The Golden Coast Conference (GCC) announced on Thursday that 105 women's water polo players had earned 2022 GCC All-Academic Team selection and the San Diego State Aztecs for the second year in a row took home double-digit honors, garnering 15 for the recently completed school year. The announcement was made by the conference from its offices in Aliso Viejo, Calif.
 
Since the Aztecs' inaugural season of 1995, it had never earned double digit conference academic honors in back-to-back campaigns prior to this year. Last year, San Diego State water polo student-athletes garnered a program-record 16 conference academic distinctions and with the 11 that were bestowed on the team in 2019, SDSU has for the third time in the last four years taken home double digit GCC awards for classroom excellence. The 15 honors earned this year are the second most of any team in the GCC, trailing only Cal Baptist's 16 awards.
 
For inclusion, players must be full-time students with at least one semester completed at their institution, have played in more than 50 percent of their team's games, and hold a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
 
The 15 Aztecs who met the requirements are: seniors Delaney Binette, Karli Canale, Lucia Carballo, Raquel de Pinho, Jessica Leckich and Spencer Samuel; juniors Danni Croteau and Katie Ratcliff; sophomores Faith Cerussi, Kendall Houck and Laurene Padilla, and freshmen Amanda Chambers, Klara Goldstein, Rose Kanemy and Brooke Lee.
 
For Carballo, who took advantage of the NCAA's offer of an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is her fifth GCC academic honor, while Binette, Leckich and Samuel have been recognized for the fourth time. Canale, de Pinho, Ratcliff, Cerussi, Houck and Padilla earned the distinction for the second time and the remaining five, Chambers, Croteau, Goldstein, Kanemy and Lee are receiving the designation for the first time in their careers.
 
Since joining the GCC in 2014, San Diego State players have been honored by the conference 83 times for their academic success.
 
San Diego State finished the 2022 season ranked No. 21 in the final American Water Polo Coaches Association (AWPCA) poll. The team finished with a 13-17 record, 4-3 in conference play, and a fourth-place finish in the GCC Championship tournament.

2022 Golden Coast Conference All-Academic Team
San Diego State Honorees

-SDSU-