Adam Wright (left) was named Women's Coach of the Year, Jason Falitz (right) was named Men's Assistant/Associate Head Coach of the Year, and Lauren Steele was named the NCAA Division I Player of the Year.
Three Bruins Earn ACWPC End of Year Awards
May 31, 2024 | Men's Water Polo, Women's Water Polo
LOS ANGELES -- Three Bruins have earned distinction from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) as UCLA Head Women's Water Polo Coach, Adam Wright, was named the Women's Water Polo Coach of the Year, freshman goalkeeper, Lauren Steele, was named the NCAA Division I Player of the Year, and UCLA Associate Head Men's Water Polo Coach, Jason Falitz, was named the Assistant/Associate Head Men's Coach of the Year, as announced by the ACWPC today.
Wright just completed his seventh season as the steward of the Bruins' Women's Water Polo squad and sports an overall record of 152-36 (.809). He guided the Bruins to their eighth NCAA Championship and 12th National Championship in program history this season with a perfect 26-0 record. It marked his first NCAA Championship with the women's program and he now has seven total titles, winning two as a player in 1999 and 2000, four as the Head Coach of the UCLA Men's Water Polo team (2014, 2015, 2017, and 2020) and now this year's title with the Bruin women. Wright had his role expanded to include the UCLA women's water polo team by then Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero (as announced July 20, 2017). Wright is the first Bruin Head Coach to win the honor since Adam Krikorian won it in 2009, and it is the eighth time a Bruin mentor has been named the national Coach of the Year.
Falitz completed his ninth year with the Men's Water Polo program at UCLA in 2023 and his seventh as the Associate Head Coach. He reported to the post of Assistant Coach for the men's program in May of 2015, replacing Dustin Litvak, who assumed the head coaching duties for the boy's water polo program at Agoura High School and is now the men's head water polo coach at Princeton. He was promoted on August 16, 2017 after Wright was also named the Head Coach of the UCLA Women's Water Polo program. Then in August of 2021, he was named the Associate Head Coach for the women's water polo program and just completed his third season at that post in 2024. This is the first time a Bruin has won this award.
Falitz won an NCAA title with the Bruins in his first year as UCLA went 30-0, defeating USC, 10-7, in the national championship game in 2015. He won his second championship in 2017 as UCLA defeated the Trojans at USC, 7-5. He won his third NCAA title (for the 2020 season) as the Bruins again defeated the Trojans at USC, 7-6, on March 21, 2021. This year, the Bruins lost in the NCAA Championship game to three-time defending champion California, but the Bruins, who were undefeated until the final two weeks of competition, ended the year at No. 2 and had the best record in the country at 26-3 with winning records over every team including going 3-1 against California, 3-1 against USC, and 2-1 against Stanford.
Steele, who is one of three finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award (winner to be announced tomorrow, June 1), was also named First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF, NCAA Tournament MVP, MPSF Tournament MVP, and the MPSF Newcomer of the Year. She ended her freshman campaign with 268 saves, which ranks fourth on UCLA's single-season charts. She started all 26 games between the posts, leading UCLA to just its third undefeated season in program history, joining the 2005 (33-0) and 2008 (33-0) teams. Just five squads ever have had perfect runs to NCAA Championships, with USC doing it twice (2004 and 2016). The Bruins registered the 123rd NCAA title in UCLA athletic department history. UCLA women's water polo has won 12 national championships in all, with four predating the first NCAA one.
