Team Captain, Perimeter Menace Share USWP\u2019s Top Honor<\/p>\n
\tColorado Springs, CO\u2014U.S. men\u2019s water polo national teamers Chris Oeding and Wolf Wigo, who led the U.S. charge into and through the Olympics, were
\nnamed as the 2000 United Airlines\/U.S. Water Polo male co-Players of the Year. Both will be honored, along with female recipients Brenda Villa and Coralie Simmons, at the USWP Awards Luncheon in January.<\/p>\n
For both athletes, this is a second-time honor. Oeding sowed up the award in 1998, while Wigo was the 1999 Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
Oeding, the men\u2019s team captain, seemed to get better as the summer went on in 2000, with his offensive production bettering in each tournament. At the
\nUPS International Cup in late June, Oeding excelled in his typical role as ball distributor, leading the team in assists, and scoring three goals. Later, in August\u2019s Italian Trophy Tournament, Oeding netted six goals, including a pair of last-minute, game-tying scores for the U.S. The Olympic tournament upheld the trend for Oeding, where the 6-1 driver scored eight
\ngoals in the Americans\u2019 sixth-place finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning this award, along with Wolf, is a nice honor,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I would give it up in a second for a medal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wigo electrified crowds in Sydney with his ability to score, seemingly at will, from the perimeter, and was the tournament\u2019s most effective outside shooter at well over 60%. Shooting at that clip, Wigo amassed 13 goals on the week, good enough for a top-five finish in the score column. Wigo\u2019s 10 goals at this summer\u2019s UPS Cup, one behind the teammate and Most Valuable
\nOffensive Player, Chris Humbert.<\/p>\n
U.S. head coach John Vargas said that the award couldn\u2019t have been presented to two more worthy players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right men are being honored for this award,\u201d said Vargas. \u201cChris had an outstanding Olympics to cap off an outstanding year, and Wolf was one of the most consistent performers in the world in 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Team Captain, Perimeter Menace Share USWP\u2019s Top Honor Colorado Springs, CO\u2014U.S. men\u2019s water polo national teamers Chris Oeding and Wolf Wigo, who led the U.S. charge into and through the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[8801,8804,2125,160,477,556,2110,1151,178,479,2766,102,8802,8803,411,45,4251,238,2473,62,3667,559],"class_list":["post-1983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-augusts-italian-trophy-tournament","tag-ball-distributor","tag-brenda-villa","tag-captain","tag-chris-humbert","tag-chris-oeding","tag-coralie-simmons","tag-driver","tag-head-coach","tag-john-vargas","tag-offensive-player","tag-olympics","tag-outside-shooter","tag-perimeter-menace","tag-player","tag-sydney","tag-team-captain","tag-the-olympics","tag-united-airlines","tag-united-states","tag-ups","tag-wolf-wigo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n