Water polo's McGrath, Wallace & Phelps garner All-America honors

June 18, 2008

The Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) announced its 2008 Women's All-American Teams Wednesday with three members of the Arizona State University program earning selections in a vote by the member coaches. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/mcgrath_addison00.html"… McGrath</a> became the first Sun Devil to earn first-team honors in the program's seven-year history and was joined by honorable mention honorees <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/wallace_caylinn00.html"… Wallace</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/phelps_kelly00.html">Ke… Phelps</a>. The three honors earned double the total amount the program has received as the Sun Devils had just three total All-Americans heading into the season, including third-team honoree <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/webster_rowie00.html">R… Webster</a> (2006) and honorable mention selections McGrath (2007) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/davis_katie00.html">Kat… Davis</a> (2004). With her selection, McGrath also becomes the first player in program history to garner the national accolade twice in a career.<separator></separator>McGrath recently made history at the conference level as became the first Sun Devil to earn first team honors from the MPSF. The previous highest selection came in 2006 when Webster was a second-team honoree. The team's and MPSF's leading scorer on the season, McGrath scored 81 goals, 42 assists and 123 points. One of the top offensive players in the nation this season, her goal and point totals rank the best in single-season history at ASU while her assist total is second. The program's all-time leading scorer with 174 goals and 259 points, McGrath led the MPSF in overall goals and scoring average at 2.45 per contest and ranked among the Top 20 in goals scored nationally. Following the season, McGrath competed in the javelin for the Sun Devil track & field team, placing eighth at the Pac-10 Championships and scoring a point for the team in it's third-consecutive conference crown.<separator></separator>Wallace, the team's starting goalie for four years, put up huge numbers in her career, including a school-record and MPSF-leading 346 saves this year. Averaging a league-best 10.18 saves per game, Wallace accumulated 1,087 saves in her career, averaging just over 275 saves per season while leading the Sun Devils to new heights as a program. The program's record-holder for saves in a game with 22, Wallace recorded saves in 56-percent of the shots she faced in her career while carrying a 9.54 career saves per game average. Of the 48 student-athletes that earned first, second, third or honorable mention honors this year, only eight were goalies.<separator></separator>Phelps was a strong offensive weapon for the Sun Devils as well as the sophomore collected 53 goals and added 18 assists for 71 points on the season. He goal and points totals were second only to McGrath while her goal total ranks as the fourth-most in a single season and her point total places her sixth. For her short career, Phelps currently ranks seventh with 78 career goals and seventh with 102 career points, one of just eight Sun Devils to record 100 or more points in a career.<separator></separator>The trio of honorees played very large roles in leading the Sun Devils to several milestones in 2008, including the program's highest national ranking at No. 4, the most wins in a single season at 21 and its biggest upsets as the Sun Devils downed No. 2 USC (8-5), No. 4 California (8-7) and No. 4 San Diego State (10-7) during the season. The wins over USC and Cal were the first in program history in the series for ASU.<separator></separator> Arizona State's All-Time All-American Selections 2008 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/mcgrath_addison00.html"… McGrath</a> - First Team 2008 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/wallace_caylinn00.html"… Wallace</a> - Honorable Mention 2008 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/phelps_kelly00.html">Ke… Phelps</a> - Honorable Mention 2006 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/webster_rowie00.html">R… Webster</a> - Third Team 2004 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/mtt/davis_katie00.html">Kat… Davis</a> - Honorable Mention