SAN DIEGO – Five members of the No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team, Mimi Stoupas, Claudia Valdes, Sydney Gish, Delanney Ewing and Julianne Stark, have been honored with inclusion on the Golden Coast Conference’s 2025 postseason honors list, which are voted on by the league's eight head coaches. The announcement was made Tuesday morning from the conference office.
Stoupas is a first-team All-Golden Coast Conference (GCC) performer, while Valdes is a second-team honoree and Gish is an honorable mention designee. Ewing and Stark earned inclusion on the All-Freshman Team.
The five players are the most since the 2021 season when six Aztecs were recognized by the GCC and are tied for the second most since the program began playing in the league in 2014. San Diego State had five players receive postseason awards from the GCC in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Stoupas, who has played in each of the team’s 27 games, leads the squad, and ranks fifth in the GCC, with 64 goals. In addition to her goal scoring prowess, the sophomore center tops the team in ejections drawn (63), shot percentage (.593), and steals (28), and is second in shots (108).
Stoupas has at least a hat trick in 10 contests, among 17 games in which she has scored multiple goals, and twice: against California Baptist on Jan. 18 and again onFeb. 14, totaled a team-best matching, and career-high, six goals. This is the third All-GCC honor for Stoupas, who was an honorable mention and all-freshman team designee last season. Stoupas reached the 100 career-goal plateau on the first of her three goals at UC San Diego last Saturday, enters the GCC Tournament with 102 for her career, and is the program’s 18th first-team honoree in its 12 years in the league.
Valdes, a junior, has scored 60 goals, which ranks second on the team and seventh in the GCC. In addition, her 104 points and 15 blocks are both No. 3 in the league, and 44 assists slot in at No. 7. Among her teammates, she tops the squad in shots (122), points (104) and steals (15) and is second in assists, exclusions drawn (30) and steals (21), and her .492 shot percentage is the third best on the team.
The native of Madrid, Spain, has 18 multi-goal games, including nine games with at least a hat trick and three games: vs. California Baptist (Jan. 18), at Concordia (March 7), and at UC San Diego (April 19), with a season-best five goals. In addition, the attacker has 12 games with multiple assists, which includes a season-high four versus UC Davis (Jan. 19). This is the third time Valdes has been recognized by the GCC for her play after being named to the all-freshman team in 2023 and a first-team performer last year. Valdes has scored 190 goals in her three-year career as an Aztec and is ranked No. 10 on the program’s career goal scoring list.
Gish, a junior attacker, had the best goal scoring year of her career in 2025 with 41 tallies, which ranks third on the team. In addition, she produced career-highs in shots (70), shot percentage (.586) and blocks (6). Her shot percentage is second on the team and her shot total, 55 points, and 19 ejections drawn are all fourth among the Aztecs.
The Clovis, Calif., native, has at least four hat tricks this year, including a career-high tying six goals against Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 28), among 15 games with multiple goals scored. She has four games of multiple assists and four with multiple steals. This is the first GCC honor for Gish in her three-year Aztec career.
Stark, an attacker, led the SDSU freshman in appearances (25), shots (34), goals (16), assists (8), points (24), shot percentage (.471), ejections drawn (8) and steals (4).
The native of Danville, Calif., produced four multi-goal games with a single-game best four vs. Cal Lutheran (Jan. 19). Twice, vs. California Baptist (Feb. 1) and at Santa Clara, she had a season-high two assists and three ejections drawn.
Ewing, a native of Anaheim, Calif., played in 21 games with five goals on 14 shots for a .357 shot percentage and with two assists totaling seven points for the season. She has three exclusions drawn, two steals, and led the Scarlet and Black freshmen with three blocks. The utility player recorded one multi-point game, versus Cal Lutheran.
San Diego State is the 4-seed in this weekend's GCC Championship Tournament at Burns Aquatic Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif., and will take on the 5-seed California Baptist on Friday, April 25 at 2 p.m. PT.