SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team is eight days away from opening their 2025 season with their annual Winter Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 18, a date which can hardly come soon enough for this year's Gaucho squad.
 
"We have a very special group that we're excited to see come together," Interim Head Coach Emma Myall said. "Having eight seniors and 10 freshmen on a roster is not the usual, so seeing that start to mesh in the fall was really exciting. We have great leadership amongst our returners and a lot of eagerness to learn from the incoming group, so we're excited to get going."
 
Santa Barbara will begin their first year under Myall, who was elevated to interim head coach earlier this month, next Saturday at Dos Pueblos High School, where they will host a doubleheader against UC Merced, with games at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Admission is free and open until the venue's capacity is reached. Fans can also follow along from afar with live stats available on ucsbgauchos.com.

Big West action begins in March, as the Gauchos will look to improve on their sixth-place finish from last season and prove preseason predictions wrong, as Santa Barbara was tabbed to finish seventh in this year's preseason coaches' poll.
 
GOALKEEPERS
In goal, the Gauchos return the ever-steady Madison Walker, who is set for her third season as Santa Barbara's netminder. A two-time All-Big West Honorable Mention, Walker was the Gauchos' backbone in 2024, starting all 29 games, making a career-high 221 saves and finishing with The Big West's second-best goals-against average (8.06) and save percentage (.533). Her performance earned her a spot on USA Water Polo's midseason watchlist for the Cutino Award, given annually to the best collegiate water polo player in the nation.
 
Behind Walker, the Gauchos have junior Ava Donleavy and the aptly named freshman Kiera Wall. Donleavy made eight appearances off the bench in 2024, finishing with a .684 save percentage in 148 minutes of work. Her best work came against No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer, when she made a career-best 13 saves to just one goal allowed over 24 minutes. She also shut out Santa Clara for an entire half. Wall is entering her freshman season after an over-300-save campaign for Saint Francis High School in her senior year there.
 
ATTACKERS
In attack, Santa Barbara returns the vast majority of the group that scored 280 goals in 2024, with the quartet of Juju Amaral, Christina Mullane, Aidan Flynn and Isabel Valaika all back. Amaral collected more points than any other Gaucho in 2024, scoring 33 goals and adding 33 assists. Her 37 steals led Santa Barbara's outfield players as well. Mullane delivered an equally balanced output in her first year in Blue and Gold, scoring 26 goals and assisting 27. Valaika was voted the team's Rookie of the Year in 2024, scoring 14 and assisting 17. She also showed her speed, winning 31 of the 45 sprints she took part in.
 
There are four newcomers in the Gauchos' attacking corps this year as well: Lainey Weintre, Loretta Hovey, Brynn Tully and Athena Wigo. Hovey and Tully both have big-game experience from winning CIF Section Championships in their high school careers.
 
UTILITY PLAYERS
There is good news and bad news for the Gauchos when looking at their utility players. The bad news is that Leigh Lyter graduated in 2024 after her third consecutive 40-goal season for Santa Barbara. The good news is that Annie Kuester is back for her senior season after a career year in 2024. She tallied 38 goals for Santa Barbara, a team-high six of which came in Big West games. Cami Mras and Jojo Scheer are both back for their senior seasons as well after 17-goal campaigns for each of them in 2024. Sophomore Molly Souza got 12 games of collegiate water polo under her belt last season, scoring eight times in those limited minutes.
 
Among their three freshman utilities, the Gauchos have a CIF State Champion in Zoe Gabriel and a three-time All-CIF honoree in Hadde Hall, as well as Canadian Youth international Bella Mady, who most recently featured at the U18 Water Polo World Championships in China in the fall of 2024.
 
CENTERS
At center, the Gauchos return seniors Imani Clemons and Natalia Stanard and add freshman Morgan Hoffman. Clemons is coming off the best season of her career in 2024, and Stanard was voted as the team's Most Improved Player in her first year of Division I water polo last season. Hoffman has plenty of big-game experience from her high school career, winning the CIF North Coast Section title as a sophomore at San Ramon Valley High School and being named the team's MVP as a junior.
 
DEFENDERS
After both Drew Halvorson and Camilla Mackay graduated in 2024, the Gauchos enter 2025 with just one player listed as a defender on their roster: freshman Kayla Matthies. A two-time All-Central Coast Section honoree at Soquel High School, Matthies comes to Santa Barbara having won a pair of Central Coast Section Championships in high school and made a CIF State Championship appearance.