Grace Clark Earns SCIAC Newcomer of the Year; McKenna, Kulick Take All-League Honors

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Grace Clark of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team earned the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Award and was joined by Cooper McKenna on the All-SCIAC first team, while Christina Kulick earned a spot on the second team, the conference office announced today.

Clark finished her debut season for the Athenas with 44 goals and 17 assists for 61 points, ranking second on CMS in both goals and points. She had five-goal performances in wins against both Cal Lutheran and La Verne during the regular season, and had four other games with three goals, including Fresno Pacific, Augustana, Chapman and Pomona-Pitzer. 

McKenna led CMS in goals with 50, as well as in points with 68. She had a five-goal game in a win over Augustana, had a four-goal game against Chapman, and had eight games with three goals, including in a sudden death overtime win at La Verne in which she scored the game-winner from mid-pool to beat the shot clock. 

Kulick missed some time during the middle of the season with an injury, but finished strong and ended the year with 25 goals. She had four goals against Buila early in the season, and had a hat trick against La Verne to help CMS clinch the second seed in the SCIAC Tournament. She also drew five exclusions in the regular season finale against Cal Lutheran, scoring two goals and adding an assist as well. 

CMS finished with an 11-1 record in SCIAC play, which was the best winning percentage in program history in conference, surpassing the 7-1 mark of the 1997 team. The Athenas will open SCIAC Tournament play on Friday with a home game against Cal Lutheran at 7 p.m.