Two Waves were among the 48 college water polo players selected to the 2017 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Division 1 Men’s Varsity All-America Team earlier this month.Â
Pepperdine’s Marko Asic and Mark Urban were named All-Americans along with water polo players from 18 other schools. This is the second consecutive season the two Pepperdine’s men’s water polo players received the honored distinction.Â
Urban, a senior attacker, was a third-team All-American, while Asic, a junior attacker and utility player, was an honorable mention All-American. Asic was a second-team All-American and Urban was an honorable mention All-American last season.
The two players were bestowed the national status on Dec. 14, a little over a month after the Waves’ season ended with an 18-14 record in the third round of the Golden Coast Conference (GCC)Tournament.Â
Asic led the Waves with 68 goals on the season and 84 points. As an All-GCC second-teamer and one of five Pepperdine players to be named to an All-GCC team, Asic led the conference in goals and was fifth in total points.Â
Urban, who also was an All-GCC player—the only Wave selected for the conference’s first team, was fifth in the GCC in points and ninth in goals. He recorded 86 points, including 45 goals and 38 assists, second on the Waves this season.Â
Pepperdine’s Zach Rhodes, Mate Toth and Coleman Carpenter also received GCC postseason awards with their All-American teammates. Rhodes was named to the All-GCC second team, and Toth was honorable mention. Carpenter was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team.Â
Rhodes, a senior goalkeeper, shattered the Waves all-time saves mark during his fourth season at Pepperdine. Toth, a sophomore center back, was fourth on the team in goals with 31 and had two three-goal games. Carpenter, a center forward had 10 goals.Â
One other Wave received an honor after the close of the 32-game campaign.Â
Junior Chris Dilworth was named to the GCC’s All-Tournament team due to his performance at the multi-game event. The center back had eight goals on 15 shots in the tournament, which led Pepperdine. He had a five-goal performance against Pacific. He scored 49 goals and 50 points total during the season.Â
In mid-November, the Pepperdine water polo program, led by coach Terry Schroeder, was ranked as one of the top five water polo programs in history by the NCAA. The Waves were ranked fifth behind Stanford, USC, UCLA and Cal.Â
Schroeder, a former Waves player, has coached the team for 25 non-consecutive seasons. He led the 1997 team to a NCAA title. The Waves program has a win-loss record of 756-507 since its NCAA sanctioning in 1975.
