Johnny Hooper Earned First Team All-MPSF Honors For The 2016 Season (Catharyn Hayne Photography)
11/22/2016 12:26 PM | Men's Water Polo
BERKELEY – The Cal men's water polo team was well represented as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) announced its annual all-conference teams with six Golden Bears earning postseason accolades.
A pair of sophomores headed the list for the Bears as attacker Johnny Hooper and utility player Odysseas Masmanidis each landed a spot on the All-MPSF first team. Junior attacker Luca Cupido and senior goalkeeper Lazar Andric were named to the second team while senior defender Thomas Carroll and junior attacker Conor Neumann earned honorable mention.
A native of Los Angeles, Hooper has led the conference in scoring for nearly the entire season and has 67 goals already to his credit entering the NCAA Tournament. It is the second straight all-conference honor for Hooper, who was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Year in 2015.
Masmanidis landed his own spot on the first team despite missing the first portion of the season while competing overseas. Once he joined the Bears, the native of Athens, Greece continued to establish himself as one of the conference's best at two-meters as he averaged 1.87 goals per match to score 28 goals in just 15 matches played. The award is also Masmanidis' second all-conference honor.
Cal also led the conference in saves per contest thanks to a standout season by Andric. The senior from Montenegro is averaging over 11 stops per game heading into the NCAA Tournament and he also owns the top three performances of the season among all conference goalkeepers, highlighted by a career high-tying 20 saves in a win over Stanford.
In much the same way as Masmanidis, Cupido earned his all-conference nod in an abridged 2016 campaign. The United States Olympian rounded into full form late in the season and, after measuring his minutes early, enters the NCAA Tournament with 27 goals.
Carroll and Neumann have also played an integral part in Cal's journey to the NCAA Tournament. A senior defender from Novato, Calif., Carroll has contributed offensively with 13 goals in addition to anchoring the Bears' defense. And Neumann has also been a key part of Cal's offense as the left-hander from Danville, Calif. has 18 goals entering the season's final tournament.
UCLA goalkeeper Garrett Danner was named MPSF Player of the Year for the second year in a row while USC's Matt Maier was named Newcomer of the Year. Jovan Vavic of USC earned Coach of the Year honors. Three of the MPSF's five teams – USC, UCLA and Cal – are headed to the NCAA Tournament that begins with play-in matches this week.
A pair of sophomores headed the list for the Bears as attacker Johnny Hooper and utility player Odysseas Masmanidis each landed a spot on the All-MPSF first team. Junior attacker Luca Cupido and senior goalkeeper Lazar Andric were named to the second team while senior defender Thomas Carroll and junior attacker Conor Neumann earned honorable mention.
A native of Los Angeles, Hooper has led the conference in scoring for nearly the entire season and has 67 goals already to his credit entering the NCAA Tournament. It is the second straight all-conference honor for Hooper, who was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Year in 2015.
Masmanidis landed his own spot on the first team despite missing the first portion of the season while competing overseas. Once he joined the Bears, the native of Athens, Greece continued to establish himself as one of the conference's best at two-meters as he averaged 1.87 goals per match to score 28 goals in just 15 matches played. The award is also Masmanidis' second all-conference honor.
Cal also led the conference in saves per contest thanks to a standout season by Andric. The senior from Montenegro is averaging over 11 stops per game heading into the NCAA Tournament and he also owns the top three performances of the season among all conference goalkeepers, highlighted by a career high-tying 20 saves in a win over Stanford.
In much the same way as Masmanidis, Cupido earned his all-conference nod in an abridged 2016 campaign. The United States Olympian rounded into full form late in the season and, after measuring his minutes early, enters the NCAA Tournament with 27 goals.
Carroll and Neumann have also played an integral part in Cal's journey to the NCAA Tournament. A senior defender from Novato, Calif., Carroll has contributed offensively with 13 goals in addition to anchoring the Bears' defense. And Neumann has also been a key part of Cal's offense as the left-hander from Danville, Calif. has 18 goals entering the season's final tournament.
UCLA goalkeeper Garrett Danner was named MPSF Player of the Year for the second year in a row while USC's Matt Maier was named Newcomer of the Year. Jovan Vavic of USC earned Coach of the Year honors. Three of the MPSF's five teams – USC, UCLA and Cal – are headed to the NCAA Tournament that begins with play-in matches this week.
Players Mentioned
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