ERIE, Pa. – Penn State Behrend women's water polo coach Joe Tristan was named the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Coach of the Year for the 2016 season, announced on Friday.

Tristan earns the second Division III award of his career after being named the men's Division III Championship Coach of the Tournament in 2011.

This season, Tristan has coached the women to a 6-16 record and the No. 4 seed in the upcoming CWPA Division III Championships this weekend, where they play No. 5 Grove City on Saturday at 11:40 a.m.

The eight-team, 12-game Division III championship marks the seventh Division III women's championship contested in the CWPA following the creation of a Division III conference in the summer of 2009.

The championship will qualify a team for the CWPA Women's Championship on Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1, held at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. The champion of the league title earns the CWPA's automatic berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women's Water Polo Championship.