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Six Trojans Named ACWPC Men’s Water Polo All-Americans

by usctrojans.com
Dec 21, 2021

USC men's water polo's six-man group of 2021 All-Americans features a trio of four-time honorees playing out their fourth seasons as Trojans in Jake Ehrhardt, Jacob Mercep and Nic Porter. Redshirt juniors Hannes Daube and Ashworth Molthen also now boast multiple All-American honors with this year's selections, which follow USC's run to a 17th straight NCAA Tournament and was capped by a runner-up finish. Additionally, Wyatt Barker has nabbed his first All-American honors with All-America Honorable Mention. The full list of 2021 All-America awardees was announced today (Dec. 21) by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches.

Reigning supreme on the All-America First Team are Hannes Daube, Jacob Mercep and Nic Porter, with Jake Ehrhardt and Ashworth Molthen landing on the All-America Third Team. For Mercep, it is his fourth set of First Team honors as a Trojan, following Honorable Mention earned in his one season played at San José State before coming to USC. As a Trojan, Mercep was USC's top scorer all four seasons while climbing the career ladder to wrap his time at Troy as USC's No. 4 all-time scorer with 199 career goals. He scored 47 in the 2021 season, striking in 17 different games with 13 multiple-goal efforts. His fellow four-time All-American, goalie Nic Porter, also stormed the USC history books in standing No. 4 all-time in career saves as a Trojan. Porter's 195 saves (11.5 saves per game) boosted the senior to 671 total in his USC career. Porter also collected double-digit saves in 36 games at USC, including 12 such performances in 2021. This year's First Team honors marks Porter's second straight season on that list, following Second Team honors in 2018 and 2019. USC's third 2021 First Team honoree is Hannes Daube, a 2020 Olympian who scored 37 goals in his return to Troy, striking in a team-high 19 games and delivering 12 multiple-goal outings. That includes seven goals scored during the NCAA Tournament. Daube also was a First Team pick in 2018 and earned Second Team honors in 2019. He currently ranks No. 23 all-time in career scoring at USC with 131 goals.

All-America Third Team honors go to Jake Ehrhardt and Ashworth Molthen. In four years as a Trojan, Ehrhardt has also earned First Team accolades in 2020 and a pair of Honorable Mention listings in his first two seasons. In 2021, Ehrhardt was USC's third leading scorer with 35 goals, giving him a career total of 124 to rank No. 26 all-time. Ehrhardt screed in 16 games in 2021, tallying 12 multiple-goal efforts en route to this year's Third Team honor. For Molthen, meanwhile, 2021 marked his debut season with the Trojans. An All-America Honorable Mention as a freshman at UCLA in 2018, Molthen made the move to USC in 2020 and sat out that season in order to train with the U.S. National Team and compete overseas. Sidelined early by injury, the deft lefty wound up ripping in 22 goals in 2021 for USC, striking in 11 games with seven multiple-goal showings — including a hat trick in USC's win over Cal to claim the MPSF Invitational title.

A grad transfer to USC last season, All-America Honorable Mention recipient Wyatt Barker has been a force for the Trojans since landing on campus. Scorer of 26 goals and earner of countless exclusions, the two-meter power scored four goals in the NCAA Tournament, making it 16 games with at least one goal for the Trojan cause this season. It's Barker's first All-American honor.

2021 ACWPC All-Americans
First Team
    Hannes Daube 
    Jacob Mercep
    Nic Porter
Third Team
    Jake Ehrhardt
    Ashworth Molthen
Honorable Mention
    Wyatt Barker

 

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