| Catharine von Schwarz |
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A four-time All-American at UCLA and former U.S. National Team Member, Catharine von Schwarz begins her first season as an assistant coach for the women's water polo team. A native of Annapolis, Maryland, she was a member of four national championship teams in her four seasons as a Bruin and the first female athlete at UCLA to win four team championships.
Von Schwarz ended her four-year UCLA career with a total of 186 goals, good for second on UCLA's all time list. Her 59 goals in 1998 and 50 goals in 1997 season ranks sixth and ninth respectively on UCLA's all time list of goals scored in a season.
She made an immediate impact in her first year as a Bruin in 1998, scoring 35 goals on 48 attempts and earning second-team All-American honors. In UCLA's 8-4 victory over California in the National Collegiate Championship game she scored two goals.
In her second season, von Schwarz once again earned second-team All-American honors as she scored fifty goals and helped lead UCLA to its second consecutive National Collegiate Championship in 1997.
As a junior in 1998 von Schwarz continued her winning and scoring ways, netting 59 goals and scoring a goal in UCLA's 7-3 victory over California in the National Collegiate Championship game. She was also named a first-team All-American.
After redshirting the 1999 season to train with the United States National Team, von Schwarz rejoined the Bruins in 2000 and helped lead the team to another National Championship. For her contributions she was named team MVP and she finished the season with 42 goals scored and was named a first-team All-American.
After being an undergraduate assistant for the Bruins in 2001 and graduating from UCLA in 2001, von Schwarz continued to play for the U.S. National team and became the first United States woman to play professionally in Italy in 2001-2002. She then returned to the states and continued to play for Team USA until she accepted the assistant coach position at UCLA in August 2003.
She graduated from UCLA in 2001 with a degree in History and a specialization in DLAP.
