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A 2020 inductee to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame for his playing career at the United States Naval Academy, Luis Nicoalo has served as head coach at both Princeton University and Navy during his career. As a student-athlete at Navy, Nicolao was a three-time All-America (Third Team – 1990, 1991; Honorable Mention – 1989) and All-East (First Team – 1989, 1990, 1991) selection for the Midshipmen, graduating as the school’s all-time leader in points (377) and goals scored (282) along with rating sixth in assists (95). During the course of his career, Navy won two Eastern Championships (1988, 1990) and reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship Tournament on three occasions (1988, 1990, 1991). He was named the CWPA Eastern MVP in both 1990 and 1991, while earning CWPA First-Team All-East accolades for three straight seasons (1989, 1990, 1991). In addition, Nicolao served as the team captain as a senior during a 1991 season capped off by claiming NCAA Championship All-Tournament Second Team laurels prior to graduating in the Spring of 1992. After earning the Naval Academy Athletic Association’s Sword for Men as the top graduating male athlete in 1992, Nicolao assisted with the Navy water polo program as a temporary assigned duty (TAD). He was also a member of the U.S. National Team that won the gold medal at the World University Games in 1993 before serving in the Navy for five years. Nicolao returned to his alma mater’s pool in 1996 as an officer representative prior to accepting the head coaching position at Princeton in 1998. He also served as the U.S. men’s national “B” team assistant coach (1998, 1999). During a 20-year tenure with the Tigers prior to taking command of the Naval Academy in January 2018, he posted a combined 868-316 (.733) record. Under his tutelage, the men’s team held a 402-163 (.712) overall mark, while the women amassed a 466-153 (.753) ledger. Nicolao, the 2004 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Men’s National Coach of the Year, posted five CWPA Eastern Coach of the Year awards split between the men and the women (Men: 2004, 2009, 2011; Women: 2001, 2007) and has garnered Southern Coach of the Year honors on seven occasions (Men: 2001, 2003, 2008; Women: 2001, 2005, 2006, 2013). He directed the Princeton men to nine Southern titles (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015), four CWPA/Eastern crowns (2004, 2009, 2011, 2015) and made four NCAA Tournament appearances (2004, 2009, 2011, 2015). The women notched nine Southern titles (1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014), four CWPA/Eastern crowns (2000, 2012, 2013, 2015) and three NCAA berths (2012, 2013, 2015). Since returning to Navy in January 2018, Nicolao has overseen a rehauling of the Midshipmen. For his inaugural efforts in 2018, he was recognized by his peers with the MAWPC-East Region Coach of the Year award. Nicolao earned a Master’s Degree in adult education from the University of Phoenix. He and his wife, Kellie, reside near the Navy Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Chris Vidale enters his 10th season as head coach of the Marist College women's water polo team in 2026. During his tenure, the Red Foxes have posted a 174-123 record under Vidale with one Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship, five runner-up finishes (2017, 2018, 2019, 2024, 2025) and a pair of Third Place marks (2022, 2023). An athlete at Iona University from 2003-to-2007, he posted 30 goals, eight assists, 56 steals and 38 kickouts drawn in 67 games during his tenure with the Gaels. Further, Vidale aided Iona to appearances in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWAPA) Eastern Championship game in 2003 and 2005. The Greenwich High School head coach from 2014-16, he led the program to a Connecticut state championship in 2015. He also served as the NYC Athletic Club head coach from 2013-17. Vidale led team to three NYAC to National Championships in 2013-15 and coached 10 current or former Olympians. He earned his start in collegiate coaching at Iona University, his alma mater, where he served as a men’s assistant coach from 2009-14 under head coach Brian Kelly. A women’s assistant coach under Kelly from 2009-16, Vidale helped the team win three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships in 2011-13 and coached 27 All-MAAC First and Second Team selections and 10 MAAC major award winners.

Following her 15th season as the women’s club coach at SDSU after taking over the program in September 2010, Cassidy is no stranger in the ranks of the women’s collegiate club teams around the nation.  A two-time Pacific Coast Division (2012, 2014) and five-time Southwest Division (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2025) Coach of the Year – along with taking home SDSU Sports Club Coach of the Year accolades in 2014 and 2016 – she has led the Aztecs to six division championships (Pacific Coast: 2014; Southwest – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2025) and the 2014 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship National Championship. The victor of the 2014 National Championship via a 10-9 sudden death overtime defeat of the University of Michigan at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, she has not masked her coaching skill in taking a San Diego State team which has risen from being among the middle of the pack in the Pacific Coast Division to recording First (2014), Third (2017, 2019, 2025), Fourth (2015) and Fifth (2012, 2016) Place finishes at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship over the past decade and a half. A 2009 graduate of San Diego State and a 2011 graduate of the University of San Francisco with a Masters Degree in Sport Management,

Among the best international officials in the history of the game, Michael Goldenberg currently gives back to the game of water polo as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA)/Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)/Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC)/Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) varsity assignor following his retirement from officiating. A conduit for the recruitment, management and support of the varsity officiating ranks, Goldenberg called the Gold Medal match at the 2019 World Championships and the men’s Gold Medal match at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics prior to stepping way to educate the next generation of officials. The recipient of the 2022 Bret Bernard National Referee Award (Elite) from USA Water Polo, he officiated collegiate competition from 1993-to-2024 and has called conference and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships Finals. He became an international referee (FINA) in 2003 and officiated Gold Medal games on a variety of levels around the globe while also serving as the Head Coach/Administrator with South Florida Water Polo Club and the Head Coach of the Boys Team at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, both located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame member/former University of Michigan athlete Shana Welch competed for the Wolverines during the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons leading the Maize & Blue to the CWPA Championship (then known as Eastern Championships) in 2005 to accompany a pair of runner-up marks (2004, 2006) and a fourth place (2007) finish as the team reached the CWPA title game three times during her tenure. Overall, Michigan finished 112-51 during her four-year career (2004: 30-9; 2005: 29-14; 2006: 29-12; 2007: 24-16), including a 26-3 mark in CWPA Western Division play in claiming four consecutive division crowns. A third team Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America selection in 2005 and two-time All-America Honorable Mention in 2006 and 2007,  she is the only three-time (2005, 2006, 2007) CWPA Most Valuable Player in school history and was the CWPA Rookie of the Year in 2005 to currently stand as the only women’s player to sweep all of the major awards she was eligible for over a four-year span. A four-time All-Western Division First Team Selection (2004-to-2007), Welch garnered nine CWPA Player of the Week honors and established new program records for career goals (297) and points (393), served as captain of the Wolverines in her junior and senior seasons and was the recipient of the Michigan Athletic Academic Achievement Award in 2006 and 2007, as well as the Bob Ufer Senior Athlete Award in 2007 to accompany USA Speedo Top 40 honors in 2005 and 2006.

Official Val Vasilchikov discusses coming up in the game in Baku, Azerbaijan, immigrating from the former Soviet Union and his experiences as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) official.

One of three finalists for the 2019-20 Cutino Award presented annually by the Olympic Club in San Francisco for the most outstanding player in the collegiate game, Rade Joksimovic is arguably the best water polo player in the history of the Bison program.  As a senior in 2019 he earned Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division I First Team All-America honors.  The inaugural Bucknell water polo player to earn First Team All-America recognition, the laurel marked his fourth All-America nod after previously garnering Second Team honors in 2018, Honorable Mention in 2017 and Third Team honors in 2016. The senior joined Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame member Scott Schulte as the only multi-time All-America selection in Bucknell men’s water polo history last season, and stands alone as the only Bison to ever earn a spot on the All-America teams three times.  A four-time Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Player of the Year honoree and the 2019 MAWPC Championship Player of the Tournament, Joksimovic proved an instrumental part in helping Bucknell win the title to advance to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships for just the second time since 1985. In the Bucknell record books, Joksimovic finished his Bucknell career second in points (714), second in goals (527), fifth in assists (187), first in steals (317), and tenth in ejections drawn (124). The senior also finished his career having started the most games in Bucknell history (120) The sole athlete named to the 2019 ACWPC First, Second or Third Team All-America teams from an institution not in the state of California, he stands as the most honored men’s water polo athlete from any institution outside the state of the California in the history of the sport as the four-time MAWPC First Team selection and MAWPC Championship All-Tournament First Team pick (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019); 2016 MAWPC Rookie of the Year, 2016 MAWPC Championship Rookie of the Tournament; 2016, 2018 and 2019 MAWPC Championship Most Valuable Player; 11-time MAWPC Player of the Week; seven-time MAWPC Rookie of the Week; and two-time MAWPC Rookie of the Week concluded his tenure among the best-of the-best in the history of NCAA water polo.

A 2006 inductee to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame, former Bucknell University standout Scott Schulte ’81 was an All-East water polo selection four straight years (1977-80), led the Bison to four Eastern Championships and set an all-time NCAA water polo career scoring record with 586 goals. The high scorer in four straight NCAA Tournaments (the only player to accomplish this feat) and holder of the career record of 50 goals in NCAA Championships, Schulte played on Bucknell teams that had a combined record of 114-15-3, and he was a Second Team All-America in 1979 and 1980. He was the only player outside of California selected to those All-America squads. In non-collegiate play, he was twice selected to the United States Water Polo (USWP) All-America First Team, and seven times in his career finished in the top six of an East Coast Conference Swimming Championship event. He won Bucknell’s Christy Mathewson Award, which recognizes the top athlete in the senior class, in 1981. Schulte was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1980-84, was a First Team Indoor All-America from 1981-85, was Most Valuable Player at the Indoor Nationals in 1981 and 1984, and competed in the World University Games in 1981. He was inducted into the Bucknell Hall of Fame in 1986.

The head men’s water polo coach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2014-to-2017, Dave Andriole ranks third in career victories at MIT behind Collegiate Water Polo Association Hall of Fame member John Benedick and Jeff Ma. Involved in water polo as a player and coach for more than 30 years, Andriole has been involved in the sport on the collegiate, national, and international levels. In 1995, he was a founding member and player/coach of KAOS Water Polo based in Los Angeles. Most recently, from 2011 until the summer of 2014, he was the head coach of West Hollywood Aquatics Water Polo, and also coached at Westside Aquatics in Palisades, California. A graduate of Yale University where he earned his B.A. in history in 1986, Andriole earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1989. While at Yale, he was a varsity water polo player and swimmer, and helped train and coach its men’s and women’s club teams. An attorney, Andriole has returned to his roots in film and production as the former Engineers' leader is working in the entertainment industry. Currently a production attorney for CBS Television Distribution, he previously worked Business and Legal Affairs with Chassy Media, a full service production company as well as a distribution company, which acquired and created content featuring “the best in automotive and motor-related media”. Further, he has remained active in the performance sector as a voice actor and was a member of the loop crew for productions including the feature films “IT” and “Independence Day: Resurgence.” A working actor prior to assuming the head coach role at MIT, he has appeared on television in shows such as “The West Wing”, “Monk”, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “CSI: Miami”, “Beverly Hills: 90210”, “Baywatch” and “Bones”.  Further, he provided work for video games, including “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, “Grand Theft Auto V”, and feature films.

The men’s water polo head coach at Johns Hopkins University for 27 years, Ted Bresnahan coached the Blue Jays for all but three of the program’s varsity seasons. He took over as the program’s fourth head coach in 1991 and turned Hopkins into one of the premier Division III water polo programs in the nation. Bresnahan led JHU to a 414-389 (.515) record, while competing primarily against Division I competition, and he is just the fifth head coach in any sport in Johns Hopkins’ history to reach 400 wins. Bresnahan coached 65 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America selections, including 31 first team picks, a record five national Players of the Year and five College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America recipients. JHU has produced at least one All-America selection in every season since 1996. In addition, Bresnahan led the Blue Jays to a record 17 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championships and six times Hopkins has been ranked number one in the nation in the season’s final poll. He was named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year in 2005, 2008, and 2015.

Among the leading officials in the collegiate game, Alex Stankevitch is a regular fixture on the deck for some of the most important games on the domestic and international stages. A Social Studies and Special Education High School teacher in south New Jersey when not officiating, Stankevitch emigrated to the United States from Belarus and graduated from the University of California-Santa Barbara. During his time at Merced College and UC-Santa Barbara, he began to officiate ultimately rising to his current position in the collegiate game.

Co-founder of KAP7 International, Brad Schumacher has experienced success in athletics and business. A former swimmer, water polo player and Olympic gold medalist. Schumacher is a two-time, two-sport Olympian. He was a member of the winning relay teams at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Four years later, he was a member of the U.S. men's water polo team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Schumacher's two gold medals came as a member of the U.S. men's swimming relay teams at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia: in the men's 4X100-meter freestyle relay and in the men's 4X200-meter freestyle relay. He qualified for both swimming and water polo for the 2000 Olympic Games, but chose to compete only in water polo. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he helped the U.S. men's water polo team to a sixth-place finish. He was the top sprinter at the 2000 Olympics, with 20 sprints won. The first American world champion in swimming and water polo since the 1904 Olympic Games, he earned a gold medal at the Pan-Pacific Games in 1997 and his first national championship at the U.S. Spring Nationals. In water polo, he represented the U.S. at the FINA World Championships, FINA World Cup, World University Games and the Goodwill Games. In 1998, Schumacher competed in World Championships in both sports and joined an elite group of aquatics stars that competed in both sports on the world-class level: Duke Khanamoku, Johnny Weissmuller, Bob Hughes and Matt Biondi. A swimming and water polo All-America selection at the University of the Pacific, he is the co-founder of KAP7 International, Inc., a water polo equipment company, with former Olympic teammate Wolf Wigo and he spends his spare time as the head coach of SET water polo club, a Southern California-based team that continues to rank among the top water polo clubs in the country.

A 2004 inductee to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame, Paul Barren became involved in water polo while attending college at West Chester University. While swimming competitively for the West Chester swim team, he began to learn to play water polo with the school’s club team. After graduation, Barren played with the Philadelphia Water Polo Club, a team composed mostly of German and Hungarian ex-patriots. The level of play he encountered with the team piqued his interest in the sport and he began to pursue it with vigor.  While teaching math and serving as an assistant football coach at Lower Moreland High School outside Philadelphia in the late 1960’s, Barren received permission from the school’s athletic department to start a water polo program. He coached the team for the next twenty years, taking his athletes on trips to Europe to compete in Germany and the Netherlands and compiling a record of 444-117-5.  The only official in the league Hall of Fame, Barren began officiating collegiate water polo games in the early 1970’s for the newly formed Mid Atlantic Conference. He also officiated AAU games during the summer and earned national certification in 1973. As Barren’s stature in the officiating community grew, he was able to earn a FINA rating as an international referee in 1978.  For his contributions to the sport of water polo, Barren was elected to the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1995 and inducted at a ceremony in Seattle, Wash. in 1997.

A former University of Michigan Assistant Director of Athletics Communications, Harvard University Water Polo Operations Assistant and The Full-On Sports Hub (FOSH) co-creator Ryan Sosin has been on the forefront of collegiate water polo over the past decade plus. A four-time CWPA Western Division Sports Information Director (SID) of the Year with honors in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, Sosin completed a four-year tenure as an Assistant Director of Media Relations at Michigan. During his time in Ann Arbor,  the water polo team won the CWPA Eastern Championship three times (2008, 2009, 2011) and the men’s swimming and diving team won the Big Ten Championship in 2010-11. A 2007 Michigan alum and Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native, he helped his alma mater host the 2011 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship prior to departing for graduate school. The recipient of a Master of Business Administration from Boston University in 2013, Sosin returned to the sport of water polo as the inaugural Operations Manager for the Harvard men’s and women’s programs from January 2013-to-April 2014. He has remained in the Boston market and has prior experience in development, business and technology with StubHub, Hudl, Sideline Swap, the NBC Digital News division and most recently as a Senior Product Manager with Rightpoint. In addition, he co-founded The Full-On Sports Hub which ushered in a new era for water polo sports information for the 2014 NCAA men’s season with the launch of The FOSH for Water Polo. The leader in the field of web-based statistics for water polo, The FOSH for Water Polo provides a platform for inputting game events as they happen and publishing them in real-time via its FOSH Live feature. The platform also allows school’s to provide online box scores, individual and team statistical reports, and on-demand national, conference and tournament leaderboards.

A three-time All-America selection (2013, 2015: Second Team; 2016: First Team), Ao Gao was a member of the women's national team for China which claimed a Silver Medal at the 2007 World Junior Championship, Ao Gao competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and London, England, respectively. A native of Beijing and a graduate of Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and a Master of Arts in Sports Journalism, she compiled 131 goals, 100 assists, and 131 steals during a four-year career that spanned 2012-14 and 2016. She is currently an Associate Editor with ESPN under the international production department with the ESPN China group. She has been working on various projects this past year, specializing in X Games features, tennis feature content, Special Olympics distribution as well as assisting on NBA on-court game coverage and features production. Named a 2013 Arthur Ashe Jr Sports Scholar, she attended the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after claiming a coveted spot in the ASU Cronkite School of Journalism Olympics program in 2016 to cover the Olympics as a graduate student. One of her feature stories was selected by the Society of Professional Journalists and won the National Television Sports Photography award in 2016. Past experience in sports journalism includes jobs with the Pac-12 Networks, ESPN, the Doug Ducey campaign for Governor of Arizona and with Will Ferrell's Funny or Die.