(Photo Courtesy UCLA Athletics)

SAN FRANCISCO – Marist women's water polo head coach Natalie (Golda) Benson, who played collegiately at UCLA (2001-03, 2005),  was named to the Pac-12 All-Century Women's Water Polo Team the conference announced on Tuesday.

The team was voted upon by a panel of 24 members consisting of coaches, players, administrators and members of the media and consists of 16 players (eight drivers/attackers), six field/utility/center/2m and two goaltenders.

Arguably the best women's water polo player to ever play the game, Benson was one of six players voted on as a field/utility/center/2m. In her career at UCLA, she won three NCAA National Championships, scored 158 career goals and was a three-time American Water Polo Coaches Association (AWPCA) All-American including being named the 2005 recipient of the Cutino Award, given to the AWPCA National Player of the Year. Benson was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2005 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships.

She also has two Olympic medals to her name as she was a member of the U.S. water polo team that won a bronze medal in 2004 in Athens and a silver medal in Beijing in 2008. Benson scored 11 goals combined in the two Olympics, including nine in the Beijing Games where she scored four goals against China and three goals against Russia. She also competed in three World Championships for the USA, winning gold medals in Barcelona in 2003 and Melbourne in 2007 while also taking home silver in 2005 in Montreal.

In 2015, Benson was inducted into the US Water Polo Hall of Fame.

Named the Marist head coach in the fall of 2013, she has led the Red Foxes to a 56-48 record and appearances in the MAAC Championship game each year she has been at the helm.