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LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego's Josh Stiling was named the 2012 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Player of the Year Wednesday, while Brian Donohoe and Cameron Ravanbach joined him as All-WWPA First Team honorees.
In addition, John Butler was named All-WWPA Second Team, Luke Syka received Honorable Mention recognition and freshman Chase Cockerill was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
Despite missing nearly a month of competition, Stiling leads the Tritons in goals with 66 on the year, nearly doubling his total of 36 in 2011. The junior driver/utility has scored five or more goals on five different occasions this season, with a single game high seven against Loyola Marymount. This year's honor marks the first of the Beaverton, Ore., native's career.
Donohoe, a senior tri-captain from Upland, received his third consecutive conference honor as a four-year starter for UCSD. The utility has tallied 20 drawn ejections over the course of the season, second most on the team. Donohoe scored a season high three goals against conference foes Air Force and Loyola Marymount.
A sophomore goalkeeper, Ravanbach has posted a breakout season after seeing limited action as a redshirt freshman in 2011. The La Jolla native has averaged nine saves a game against WWPA opponents with a season high 19 at Loyola Marymount. He earned KAP7 Player of the Week honors on Oct. 24.
Butler, a first-team honoree in 2011, leads the team in assists with 42 this season, giving him a cereer total of 127. The senior utility dished out a single game high six assists against UC Davis at the Norcal Invitational. A Hillsborough native, Butler received All-Freshman Team honors in 2009.
Syka, a San Diego local out of Westview High School, has tallied 28 goals over the course of the regular season, good for the second most on the squad. The junior utility is also second on the roster with 23 steals.
Cockerill, the only active true-freshman on this year's roster, has posted six goals, seven assists, six steals and five ejections drawn as a utility. In the Tritons' 27-1 victory over Occidental, the Woodland Hills native posted a single game high three goals while adding three assists and one steal.
The six honorees are the largest group to pick up WWPA accolades in program history. Five Tritons were named to league teams in 2011.
UCSD enters this week's WWPA Championships as the top seed and will take on host Whittier Friday at 9 a.m. in first round action.
2012 Western Water Polo Association Honors
Player of the Year: Josh Stiling - UC San Diego (DR)
Newcomer of the Year: Milutin Mitrovic - LMU (ATT)
First-Team
Brian Donohoe, UC San Diego (Sr., DR)
John Mikuzis, LMU (Jr., CTR)
Milutin Mitrovic, LMU (Fr., ATT)
Cameron Ravanbach, UC San Diego (So., GK)
Josh Stedman, Air Force (Jr., ATT)
Josh Stiling, UC San Diego (Jr., DR)
Kyle Testman, LMU (Sr., GK)
Matt Vowell, UC Davis (Sr., UTL)
Second-Team
Brian Baier, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Sr., 2MD)
John Butler, UC San Diego (Sr., DR)
Jason Cox, Pomona-Pitzer (Sr., UTL)
Mike Fish, Air Force (Sr., GK)
Jimmy Moore, Santa Clara (Jr. DR)
Chris Richardson, UC Davis (So., UTL)
Cruz Smithson, Air Force (Sr., UT)
Honorable Mention
Tucker Carlson, Santa Clara (Jr., UTL)
Brett Carter, Chapman (Jr., UTL)
Clint Freeman, Redlands (Jr., CTR)
Goran Mataic, Whittier (So., CTR-D)
Luke Syka, UC San Diego (Jr., UTL)
Collin Walters, LMU (Sr., ATT)
All-Freshman Team
Philip Bates, UC Davis (GK)
Phillip Clayman, Pomona-Pitzer
Chase Cockerill, UC San Diego (DR)
Tanner Cullen, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (DR)
Douglas Marriott, Whittier (UTL)
Milutin Mitrovic, LMU (ATT)
Ben Rogers, Air Force (UTL)
James Rude, Santa Clara (UTL)
-- UCSDtritons.com --
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