Natasha Kieckhafer Season 2026

UCLA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• ACWPC All-Academic Team member (Superior - 2024)
• MPSF All-Academic Team member (2025)
• 2-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award recipient (2026, 2025)
• 2-time Big Ten Spring Academic Honor Roll member (2026, 2025)
• 9-time Athletic Director's Honor Roll member (last Spring 2026)

2026
Did not play … Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award recipient … earned spot on Big Ten Spring Academic Honor Roll ... named to Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for Fall 2025, Winter 2026 and Spring 2026.

2025
Played in all 26 games … recorded 13 total points … collected seven goals and six assists … drew three exclusions and had two steals … Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award recipient … notched a season-high two goals in a win vs. No. 6 UC Irvine on Feb. 1 in the semifinals of the Triton Invitational … scored at least one goal in 6-of-26 games … had a season-best six consecutive games with at least one goal scored (to open the season) … tallied one multi-goal game ... named to Athletic Director's Honor Roll for Fall 2024, Winter 2025 and Spring 2025. 

2024
Played in all 26 games …  tallied 17 goals (tied for eighth on the team) and nine assists (ninth on the team), scoring 26 total points on the season … drew nine exclusions (tied for sixth on the team) and had six steals … had a season-high three goals twice on the season (in a win vs. No. 14 Arizona State on Feb. 3 at the UCSD Triton Invitational and in a win over Biola on March 9) … went 2-for-3 on sprints for the year … scored at least one goal in 11-of-26 games … recorded a season-best four consecutive games with at least one goal scored … had four multiple-goal games, including two hat tricks ... named to Athletic Director's Honor Roll for Fall 2023, Winter 2024 and Spring 2024.

HIGH SCHOOL/CLUB
Natasha Kieckhafer was a four-time letterwinner as a utility in water polo at Santa Margarita Catholic High School … holds the SMCHS record for goals scored in one game (11) and exclusions drawn in a season (105) … received the Santa Margarita Catholic HS Eagle of the Year Award as a senior, helping lead the team to a CIF Southern-Section Division I Championship in 2023 … earned All-America and All-CIF-Southern Section honors in 2023 … two-time All-Trinity League Honorable Mention (2019, 2020) and named to the First-Team All-Trinity League and First-Team All-CIF-Southern Section honors as a junior in 2022 … has been named to the U.S. National Team selection camp since 2018, member of the U.S. National Travel Team to Greece in 2021 and was a member of the U.S. National Team (2018-21, 2023) … member of the USA Academy Team (2019-23) … played club at SET and SOCAL … with SOCAL, earned a fourth-place finish at the Junior Olympics in 2023 … with SET, two-time U.S. club champion (2021, 2022) and back-to-back second-place finishes at the Junior Olympics … also named an All-American at the JOs in 2021.

PERSONAL
Full name: Natasha Helena Kieckhafer … born in Laguna Hills, Calif. … parents are Lia and James Kieckhafer … has a younger brother, Zane … older sister, Alexis, is a senior and the captain of the Women’s Water Polo Team at Harvard … older brother, Will, is also a senior and is a two-time national champion on the California Men’s Water Polo Team …decided to attend UCLA because, “not only is it one of the top universities with a top water polo program, but the level of excellence the team holds itself to in and outside of the pool is something I wanted to be around” … lists Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant as athletes she admires … major is public affairs.