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2013 – ADELE MCCARTHY-BEAUVAIS – PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Adele McCarthy-BeauvaisAmong the best players in the history of the game and the all-time leading scorer in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history at the time of her graduation in 2003 with 325 goals, Adele McCarthy-Beauvais earned All-America honors all four years, and was selected a First-Team All-Conference athlete and First-Team Eastern Championship athlete in each of her years of competition.

Her freshman year (2000) marked the rise of the Tigers’ program to National prominence as she posted 93 goals, four off the school single-season record of Cassandra Nichols (97) established in 1999, in leading Princeton to a 25-6 record, including an 8-0 mark in the CWPA.

The year featured a pair of championships at home in DeNunzio Pool as she helped Princeton knock off the University of Massachusetts at home for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and aided the Tigers in downing the University of Massachusetts 6-4 in the Garden State for the CWPA Eastern Championship.

In addition, the program broke into the Top 10 for the first time in March of 2000 and peaked at No. 8 at the conclusion of the season as the Tigers placed eighth at the National Collegiate Championship hosted by Indiana University, the precursor to the NCAA Championship tournament.

For her performance, McCarthy-Beauvais garnered Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America Second Team honors, along with CWPA Southern Division First Team accolades and National Collegiate Championship All-Tournament First Team honors.

She shattered the school career scoring record of 159 goals held by Katherine Kixmiller in her sophomore year (2001) by posting 83 goals to raise her career total to 176 in 66 games, a pace of 2.67 goals per game, in helping the Tigers conclude the year with a 24-7 record and an 8-0 mark in CWPA play to claim the program’s second consecutive ECAC crown (9-6 W vs. Brown University) at Princeton and finish second at the CWPA Eastern Championship (11-10 L OT SD vs. Brown) at Brown during the first year of NCAA competition. In addition, she helped Princeton claim the program’s second Southern Division Championship via an 11-5 victory over the University of Michigan at Grove City College.

The honors continued to pour in for McCarthy-Beauvais as she claimed laurels as the ECAC Championship Most Valuable Player and Southern Division Player of the Year to go along with notice on the ECAC Championship First Team, All-Southern Division First Team, All-CWPA Eastern Championship Tournament First Team and ACWPC All-America Second Team lists. In addition, she was a finalist for the Cutino Award, becoming the youngest player to earn notice for the highest honor in the sport.

The 2002 season saw the Tigers finish 23-11, 6-0 in CWPA action, as the team placed second in the Southern Division, third at the ECAC Championship and fourth at the CWPA Eastern Championship behind 91 goals from McCarthy-Beauvais.

She continued to be recognized for her play as she earned CWPA Eastern Championship All-Tournament First Team honors, finishing second in balloting for the MVP award to future Olympian and fellow CWPA Hall of Fame inductee Betsey Armstrong of Michigan.

In addition, she picked up All-Southern Division First Team, ACWPC All-Academic, CWPA All-Academic, Academic All-Ivy League and ACWPC All-America Third Team honors.

In her final season, she recorded 58 goals in captaining the Tigers to a 22-7 finish, including an 8-0 mark in CWPA Southern Division play, as Princeton placed third in the Southern Division, fourth at the CWPA Eastern Championship and claimed the ECAC Championship (10-8 W vs. Hartwick College) at home for the third time in McCarthy-Beauvais’ career.

She finished the year with All-Southern Division First Team, CWPA Eastern Championship All-Tournament First Team, CWPA and ACWPC All-Academic, Academic All-Ivy League and ACWPC All-America Honorable Mention honors.

Further, she claimed the 2003 Friends of Women’s Water Polo Tiger Award, presented annually to “the individual who contributed the most in play, sportsmanship and dedication to the Princeton University women’s water polo team,” and was recognized with the prestigious Otto von Kienbush Award by the Princeton Department of Athletics as, “a senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated ability in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman.”

In total, she concluded her career with the best four-year performance by a Princeton player in the program’s history as she led the Tigers to three ECAC Championship titles (2000, 2001, 2003) along with CWPA Southern Division (2001) and Eastern (2000) Championships with a 74-31 record in becoming the only four-time women’s water polo All-America selection in Tigers’ history.

“Water polo was an invaluable component of my life,” noted McCarthy-Beauvais in a 2007 testimonial for the university.

“In the course of playing water polo for Princeton, and keeping in touch with my teammates after graduation, I learned and came to understand that work ethic, commitment to excellence, and respect for others and their talents in athletic endeavors can easily translate into achievement in college life and the professional world.”

A native of Haydenville, Mass. and a 2003 graduate of Princeton with a Bachelor’s degree in English, she continued her education and earned a Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Columbia University School of Business.

She is currently employed as the Associate Director, Communications for The Broad Center (TBC) for the Management of School Systems.  Located in California, the Broad Center is a nonprofit organization that seeks to raise student achievement by recruiting, training and supporting leadership talent in order to transform urban school systems. In this role, McCarthy-Beauvais develops and leads TBC’s media and communications initiatives including media relations, speechwriting, publicity, press and public events and writing and developing collateral materials for TBC.

Prior to joining TBC, McCarthy-Beauvais was an operations manager at Rocketship Education, a public school system for low-income elementary students.  She has also been an associate director of institutional strategy and finance at WNET.org, summer associate at Newsweek Magazine and publicist at W.W. Norton and Company.  

McCarthy-Beauvais continues to compete as a water polo athlete in her adult life.  In 2012, she led the Olympic Club team based in San Francisco to the 2012 Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Masters 30+ Championship in Riccione, Italy.

Adele Mccarthy-Beauvais, George Gross, Betsey Armstrong

CWPA Hall of Fame members Adele McCarthy-Beauvais (2013, Princeton University), George Grosse (2005, Yale University) and Betsey Armstrong (2008, University of Michigan)

Collegiate Water Polo Association