Koning Named November's Competitor Of The Month

Senior Tom Koning led the Tigers with 58 goals on the year. (Gary Jones)

Stockton, Calif. - Senior Tom Koning of the Pacific men's water polo team has been named Pacific's November Competitor of the Month, announced Tuesday, December 7. The award is presented each month to a Pacific student-athlete who demonstrates unusual or remarkable competitive effort.

"After passing the wall of student-athletes who have already been named Competitor of the Month, I am extremely grateful to be recognized alongside of them," Koning said. "Credit goes to James for creating a competitive environment to train in everyday and to my teammates for pushing me to my limits day in and day out."

The 6-2 attacker from Poway keyed the Tigers' late-season push for a spot in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. On the road against UCLA, Koning talled four goals in a sudden-victory defeat before rebounding to notch the game-winning goal against UC Santa Barbara two days later. He also scored twice in one-goal losses to both California and USC. Koning played a huge role in Pacific's rout of Long Beach State on senior day, tying his season high with five goals and lifting the Tigers to a spot in the conference tournament. He earned MPSF Player of the Week honors for his performance against the 49ers.

Making the trip to the tournament for the third consecutive season, Koning recorded two goals in the Tigers' opening-round loss to top-seeded USC. He notched a hat trick against UC Santa Barbara the following day, helping advance Pacific to the fifth-place game for the first time since 2006. He scored his 21st goal of the month against UC Irvine as the Tigers took sixth place at the tournament, the best finish in Koning's four years at Pacific. The goal gave him 161 for his career, good for sixth all-time in school history.

"It is great to see Tom receive this award," Pacific head coach James Graham said. "He stepped up big for us this year as a senior and I could not be more proud of the effort and intensity he played with this season and throughout his four-year career."