Bio entering the 2027 season
Dana Ochsner, San Diego State assistant water polo coach for three seasons and interim head coach in 2023, was named the program's full-time head coach on May 30, 2023, and enters her fifth season overall leading the program.
In the Oceanside, Calif., native’s first four seasons, her teams compiled an overall record of 63-59, which includes, in 2024, the first winning season for SDSU since 2017. The Aztecs have posted a 16-11 record in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) play in Ochsner’s tenure, finished in fourth place in the 2023 and 2025 conference tournaments, and in third place in 2024 and 2026.
Her players have earned 16 all-conference honors, including five first-team accolades, highlighted by Mimi Stoupas’ 2026 Golden Coast Conference Player of the Year designation. Aztecs have been named GCC Player of the Week eight times, and four times garnered inclusion on the Golden Coast Conference All-Tournament Team.
Claudia Valdes (2023-26), one of the best all-around players the program has produced, completed her eligibility as the program’s career leader in points and is the only Aztec to have compiled three 100-point campaigns. In addition, she left the program ranked No. 2 in assists and No. 4 in goals. Her 68 assists and 123 points in 2026 rank second on SDSU’s single season list. In addition, she slotted in at No. 5 and No. 8 on the points list with 116 and 112, respectively. Ochsner's players occupy 18 spots on the organization’s top 10 single-season and career lists.
In addition to the team’s improvement in the pool under Ochsner, they have been equally, if not more, successful in the classroom. A record 70 Aztecs have been recognized by the conference for their academic success in Ochsner’s four seasons guiding the program and 64 have been honored by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) for excellence in the classroom. During her tenure, SDSU as a team, has been recognized in each of her campaigns by the ACWPC for their overall excellence in the classroom and in 2026, Mimi Stoupas and Claudia Valdes garnered the program’s first CSC Academic All-America honors, both earning All-District designation and advancing to the national ballot.
SDSU has, under Ochsner, never been ranked outside of the top 25 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s national rankings, finished 2026 tied at No. 16, its highest final ranking since 2021, and its 19 wins were the most since the 2014 campaign.
Ochsner, who was a two-meter in college, led a team that went 87-30 in four years and won the 2011 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) championship. The Bears finished third in the NCAA Tournament in her freshman season (2010) and runner-up in her sophomore year (2011).
Individually, Ochsner was honored as a second-team All-American and a second-team All-MPSF performer after the 2011 and 2012 seasons and in 2013 was named a third-team All-American and an honorable mention All-MPSF athlete. Also, in the 2013 season, she was honored by being named both the team captain and its Most Valuable Player. Her 40 goals in 2010 were, at the time, the sixth most by a freshman in Cal history and still rank as the 10th highest on that list.
Ochsner was selected and competed as a member of the USA Water Polo's Women's Cadet National Team from 2005-08 and the US Junior National Team from 2009-12. As a member of the US Junior National Team she competed and won a gold medal in the 2010 Global Championships and participated in the 2011 Junior World Championships.
Professionally, Ochsner played in Seville, Spain for Club Water Polo Dos Hermanas in 2013 and 2014 and followed that up in 2015 with a season with UTS Balmain Water Polo Club in Sydney, Australia.
During her playing career and after its conclusion, she has coached both at the high school, club and junior college level in the San Diego area. Beginning in 2013, Ochsner was the assistant coach for the boys team at El Camino High School and helped to lead the program to three CIF-San Diego Section Division 2 playoff appearances. She added the responsibility of head girl's coach at El Camino in 2016 and led that squad to CIF-San Diego Section Open and Division 1 playoff appearances which included a championship in 2019 and a semi-final run in 2019.
In the summer of 2022, she guided the La Jolla United 16U club team to a top eight finish at the Junior Olympics. In 2017, she was named the girl's head coach for the North San Diego Stars Water Polo Club. Under her tutelage, the U18 team competed in the Junior Olympic National Tournament in each of the last three seasons and at Miramar College, from 2015-17, Ochsner was an assistant coach for the men's team.
Ochsner earned a bachelor's degree in political science from California in 2013 and a master's degree in education from Grand Canyon University in 2020. She and her husband, Joey Kienle, who is the water polo coach and a special education teacher at San Diego's Clairemont High School, reside in San Diego.