SAN DIEGO – Mimi Stoupas and Claudia Valdes, members of the San Diego State water polo team, have been named to the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America Team. The announcement was made from the organization’s office in Irvine, California.
SDSU student-athletes garnered multiple All-America Team honors in a season for the fourth time in the last 10 seasons, and for the first time with Head Coach Dana Ochsner in charge of the program.
The pair each earned honorable mention distinction, and for Stoupas, it is her second All-American Team nod, after receiving the same honor last season. She is the 17th Aztec to earn the designation multiple times in her college career. Valdes, who received the distinction for the first time, is the 35th Aztec to be recognized by the ACWPC and the pair garnered the 62nd and 63rd All-American Team honors in program history.
Stoupas, a junior two-meter, was named the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Year, and a first team All-GCC honoree, as well as Harper Cup Most Valuable Player in 2026. The native of Melbourne, Australia, led the conference in goals (81), and was No. 6 in points (92) and No. 5 steals (35). In addition to leading the team in goals, Stoupas was the top producer of shots (143), drawn exclusions (61) and was the squad’s most accurate shooter (.566 shot percentage). Her point total and seven blocks ranked No. 3 among Aztecs, and her 35 steals were fourth most for the squad.
Stoupas finished the year with 21 multi-goal games, including 16 hat tricks, and her six goals against both Cal State Fullerton (Jan. 17) and Santa Clara (Feb. 27) are tied for the third most in a game in Aztecs’ history. Her 81 tallies are the sixth most in a single season for a player in Scarlet and Black and the most since Jenna Schuster scored 83 in 2008. Her 185-career drawn exclusions rank No. 8 on the program’s all-time list. In 2026, the product of Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne recorded 18 games with multiple drawn exclusions, including a mind-boggling seven against No. 2-ranked Southern California.
Valdes, an attacker who completed her college career last month and one of the most well-rounded players in the game, ranked second in the GCC in points (123) and assists (68), third in steals (42), fifth in blocks (14), and ninth in goals (55). Among the Aztecs, she led the team in points, assists and blocks, was second in steals and drawn exclusions (25), and her goals and 125 shots ranked third on the team.
Valdes, a native of Madrid, Spain, is the program’s career leader in points (438) and one-of-two Aztecs, since at least the start of San Diego State’s GCC era, 2014, to total at least 100 points in a season. The first to accomplish the milestone was Caroline Israels, who finished the 2017 season with 108 points. Valdes has recorded at least 100 points in each of the last three seasons: 116 in 2024, 112 in 2025 and 123 in this season and along with Amber Pezzolla is one of two Aztecs to record multiple seasons with 100-plus points.
Valdes recorded multiple assists in 19 contests and registered back-to-back games with one or fewer assists just twice in 2026. Twice she totaled a team, season, and, in available information, tied a program-high nine points: vs. No. 9 Long Beach State (Jan. 16) and No. 21 California Baptist (Feb. 14). Valdes is the third Aztec, joining Stoupas (vs. California Baptist on Feb. 14, 2025) and Karli Canale (at California Baptist on April 14, 2022) as the only players to accomplish the feat in the GCC era (since the start of the 2014 season), and if you include the nine points from Jenna Schuster versus Hawai’i on February 27, 2007, she is one of four players to do it in available information and the only one to do it twice.