IRVINE, Calif. – It was a full sweep of conference awards after a historic regular season for the Concordia Golden Eagles men's water polo team.
Goalkeeper
Pablo de Souza was named both the WWPA Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference and becomes the first goalie to win that special award as the league's standout since 2021. The junior shattered the Concordia school record for most saves in a single season with 310 and counting. He added a league-best 10.97 GAA (goals against average) and .512 save percentage while also stopping a whopping 25 of 55 penalty shots.
In addition, de Souza joins current graduate assistant coach
Konstantinos Koulouris as back-to-back WWPA Player of the Year Award winners from Concordia.
Meanwhile,
Hugo Wouters was named WWPA Newcomer of the Year after collecting a team-best 101 points with 62 goals and 39 assists. He was Top 10 in the league in all three of those categories and was also ranked No. 3 in recorded steals with 41.
Wouters and de Souza were joined on the First Team list with teammate
Dimitrios Koritsas who was just as versatile as Wouters. Koritsas also made the WWPA All-Freshman Team with Wouters and back up goalie
Derek Maddox.
CUI head coach Justin Johnson was acknowledged as WWPA Coach of the Year after leading the Golden Eagles to a 19-12 overall record and five straight league wins to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West division. This included a 9-1 stretch during the month of October.
Porter Rosenlof was rewarded for his consistent play on both ends by making the WWPA All-Defensive Team with De Souza. Rosenlof is a great example of an important player who makes solid contributions that don't always show up on a stat sheet but are still critical to winning.
Kai Young was also named Honorable Mention.
In all, Concordia had six All-Conference honorees and a dozen total awards.
CLICK HERE for the full 2025 All-WWPA Conference List
CUI faces UC Merced in an exhibition on Friday and gets to enjoy a first round bye in to the semifinals as the top seed from the West. CUI will then play either Fresno Pacific of McKendree on Saturday for the chance to make the WWPA Championship Game for the third year in a row.
The Golden Eagles have their sights set on winning the conference tournament for the first time after closing the past two seasons as runner-up.
CLICK HERE to go to Tournament Central for the WWPA Tournament in Ohio
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's water polo schedule
