BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Goalkeeper Lindsey Lucas (So., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) and coach Derek Ellingson of 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) regular season champion Princeton University receive Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Coach of the Year honors, while Harvard University’s Maya O’Dea (Fr., Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) garners Rookie of the Year status as the CWPA releases the 2024 Division I All-Conference team.
Lucas – who was honored as the 2023 Rookie of the Year – garners the institution’s 15th MVP award. She is the third Tigers’ women’s water polo athlete to collect a league-wide Player of the Year honor following two-time Olympic Gold Medalist goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson who claimed Most Valuable Player recognition in 2015 and Jovana Sekulc who claimed the award last season.
Prior to 2015, Most Valuable Player status was presented based on divisions (North, South) with Katie Rigler (2012-South, 2013 South, 2014-South), Phoebe Champion (2009-South, 2010-South), Elyse Colgan (2004-South, 2005-South, 2006-South, 2007-South), Cassie Nichols (2002-South), Adele McCarthy-Beauvais (2001-South) and Goga Vukmirovic (2000-South).
The sixth Princeton athletes to earn women’s Rookie of the Year laurels as she followed Sekulic (2022), fellow netminders Marissa Webb (2018) and Johnson (2013-South), Lauren Brunner (2008-South) and Megan Donahue (2003-South), she joins Sekulic and Johnson to rate as one of three women’s water polo players in Princeton history to claim both Rookie and Most Valuable Player status during a four-year career.
O’Dea’s selection follows in the line of previous Rookie of the Year recipients Donahue (2003 – Princeton), Shana Welch (2004 – University of Michigan), Bronwen Knox (2005 – Hartwick College), Aubrey Rowe (Bucknell University – 2006), Kirsten Hudson (Hartwick – 2007), Jessica McKee (Hartwick – 2008), Devan Kennifer (Harvard University – 2009), Lily Martinez (Hartwick – 2010), Kate Woods (Brown University – 2011), Taylor Barnett (Bucknell – 2012), Johnson (Princeton – 2013), Melissa Balding (Harvard – 2014), Kelly Matthews (Indiana University – 2015), Kim Johnson (Michigan – 2016), Lena Kotanchyan (Hartwick – 2017), Webb (Princeton – 2018), Abby Andrews (Michigan – 2019), Emese Szucs (Saint Francis University – 2021), Sekulic (Princeton – 2022) and Lucaas (Princeton – 2023) dating back to the inaugural honor in 2003.
Ellingson collects his third women’s accolade (2024, 2023, 2019) and the institution’s 11th Coach of the Year nod as he joins Becca Dorst (2018), Luis Nicolao (2000-Mid-Atlantic, 2001-South, 2004-South, 2005-South, 2006-South, 2013-South) and Paul Nelson (1997-Mid-Atlantic) in earning recognition for Princeton.
A trio of Tigers dot the All-Conference First Team as Lucas along with teammates Kayla Yelensky (Jr., Stamford, Conn./Greenwich Academy) and Rachael Carver (Jr., Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach) account for almost half of the seven-member squad as Princeton, the University of Michigan, Brown University and Harvard University place athletes on the list.
The award marks the second All-Conference nod for Lucas (2023 First Team) and third for Yelensky (2023 First, 2022 Second), while Carver notches her inaugural accolade.
They are joined on the First team by 2023 First Team honoree Kayla Utassy (Sr., Budapest, Hungary/Konyves Kalman Secondary School) of Michigan as three of the seven athletes on the squad receive repeat All-Conference recognition.
Michigan’s Libby Alsemgeest (Sr., Hamilton, New Zealand/St. Cuthbert’s College), Harvard’s Ruby Hodge (So., San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Santa Margarita) and Brown’s Ella Palmer (So., Auckland, New Zealand/St. Cuthbert’s College) complete the First Team.
On the Second Team, a trio of Wolverines lead the way in the persons of goalkeeper Alex Brown (Gr., Clayton, Calif./Carondelet), Lola Cirulli (Sr., Lafayette, Calif./Campolindo) and Elise Walker (Sr., Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis).
A 2022 and 2023 Second Team honoree, Brown joins fellow All-Conference incumbents Madeleine Poissonnier (So., Tustin, Calif./Foothill) of Brown (2023 Second Team) and 2021 Rookie of the Year Emese Szucs (Sr., Budapest, Hungary/POLO Sport Club) from Saint Francis University (2021 Second Team) in earning repeat status to continue rating among the best-of the-best in the CWPA.
Isabelle Monaghan (Sr., Lawrenceville, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) of Bucknell University and Kaity Greenwald (Jr., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) of Harvard round out the honored 14 athletes with their first All-Conference selections.
Selected based on nominations and votes by the head coaches of the league’s Division I institutions (Brown University, Bucknell University, Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, Saint Francis University), the All-Conference Team honors the 14 best players (12 field players, two goalies) in the opinion of the coaches.
An All-Conference team was not selected in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely terminating the season.
| 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association Division I All-Conference Team | |
| Most Valuable Player: | Lindsey Lucas (Princeton University) |
| Rookie of the Year: | Maya O’Dea (Harvard University) |
| Coach of the Year: | Derek Ellingson (Princeton University) |
| First Team | |
| Lindsey Lucas (Goalie) | Princeton University |
| Kayla Yelensky | Princeton University |
| Rachael Carver | Princeton University |
| Libby Alsemgeest | University of Michigan |
| Kata Utassy | University of Michigan |
| Ella Palmer | Brown University |
| Ruby Hodge | Harvard University |
| Second Team | |
| Alex Brown (Goalie) | University of Michigan |
| Elise Walker | University of Michigan |
| Lola Cirulli | University of Michigan |
| Maddie Poissonnier | Brown University |
| Isabelle Monaghan | Bucknell University |
| Kaity Greenwald | Harvard University |
| Emese Szucs | Saint Francis University |
