NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
 | |
| Founded | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Current champions | Stanford (5) |
| Most successful club(s) | UCLA (7) |
| Website | NCAA.com |
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Seven conferences have teams competing in women's water polo: the Big West Conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). Some teams compete at Division III either as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or independently.
Champions
| Year | National Champion | Score | Runner-Up | Host or site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | UCLA | 5-4 | Stanford | Stanford University, Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California |
| 2002 | Stanford | 8-4 | UCLA | USC, McDonald's Swim Stadium, Los Angeles, California |
| 2003 | UCLA (2) | 4-3 | Stanford | UC San Diego, Canyonview Pool, San Diego, California |
| 2004 | USC | 10-8 | Loyola Marymount | Stanford University, Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California |
| 2005 | UCLA (3) | 3-2 | Stanford | University of Michigan, Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 2006 | UCLA (4) | 9-8 | USC | UC Davis, Schaal Aquatics Center, Davis, California |
| 2007 | UCLA (5) | 5-4 | Stanford | Long Beach State, Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, California |
| 2008 | UCLA (6) | 6-3 | USC | Stanford University, Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California |
| 2009 | UCLA (7) | 5-4 | USC | University of Maryland, Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium, College Park, Maryland |
| 2010 | USC (2) | 10-9 | Stanford | San Diego State, Aztec Aquaplex, San Diego, California |
| 2011 | Stanford (2) | 9-5 | California | University of Michigan, Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 2012 | Stanford (3) | 6-4 | USC | San Diego State, Aztec Aquaplex, San Diego, California |
| 2013 | USC (3) | 10-9 5OT | Stanford | Harvard University, Blodgett Pool, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| 2014 | Stanford (4) | 9–5 | UCLA | USC, Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California |
| 2015 | Stanford (5) | 7-6 | UCLA | Stanford University, Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California |
| 2016 | UCLA, Spieker Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California | |||
| 2017 | Indiana and the Indiana Sports Corp, IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN | |||
| 2018 | USC, Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California |
Tournament notes
No school from outside the state of California has ever surpassed fourth place. Hence, no non-California school has ever participated in the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship game, nor has a non-California school ever won the consolation game. In fact, with the exception of Stanford University and Cal (both in the northern part of the state), all of the schools who have achieved first, second, or third place have been located in Los Angeles. Prior to NCAA tournament competition, USA Water Polo conducted an intercollegiate team championship from 1984-2000. In 1995, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania became the only non-California school to win the intercollegiate women's water polo championship.
The women's water polo team from UCLA has won 7 of the 13 championships, and won the 100th and 101st NCAA Championship for the school in 2007 and 2008 respectively.[3][4]
Tournaments
2016
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship will be held on May 13-15, 2016 with UCLA, Los Angeles, CA hosting. Eight teams will be selected to participate in the annual event. Conference champions from the Big West, CWPA, Golden Coast Conference, MAAC, MPSF, SCIAC and WWPA will be represented with the seven automatic bids. They will be joined by three at-large teams, with play-in games being conducted on May 10, 2016.
Play-in games (May 10, 2016): San Diego State vs. Wagner, UC San Diego vs. Whitter (at San Diego State)
Tournament First Round games (May 13, 2016): Southern California vs. TBD, Michigan vs. Arizona State, Stanford vs. UC Santa Barbara, UCLA vs. TBD
Semi-finals (May 14, 2016):
Championship (May 15, 2016):
2015
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 8-10, 2015 with Stanford, Stanford, CA hosting. Eight teams participated in the event. As has been the case since 2011, conference champions from the MPSF, WWPA, SCIAC, CWPA, MAAC, and Big West represented the six automatic bids. They were joined by four at-large teams, with play-in games being conducted on May 2: UCSD (18-18) def. Whittier (21-14) 17–11, Princeton (29-3) def. Wagner (25-8) 12–2.
Tournament First Round games (May 8, 2015): UCLA (24-2) def. UCSD 9–2, California (19-7) def. UCI (19-8) 6–5, Southern Cal (22-5) def. Hawaii (18-9) 14–7, Stanford def. Princeton 7–2.
Semi-finals (May 9, 2015): UCLA def. California 9–5, Stanford def. Southern Cal 9–8
Championship (May 10, 2015): Stanford def. UCLA, 7–6
2014
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 9-11, 2014 with USC, Los Angeles, CA hosting. Eight teams participated. Play-in games among four at-large teams were conducted May 3 on the campuses of the higher-seeded teams, with No. 8 seed Indiana defeating No. 9 seed Wagner 11–6, and No. 7 seed UCSD defeating No. 10 seed Pomona Pitzer 13–9.
Tournament First Round games (May 9, 2014): No. 1 seed Stanford def. No. 8 seed Indiana 18–2, No. 2 seed UCLA def. No. 7 seed UCSD 12–8, No. 3 seed USC def. No. 6 seed UCI 14–11, No. 4 seed Cal def. No. 5 seed ASU 7–4
Semi-finals (May 10, 2014): [1] Stanford def. [4] California 12–8, [2] UCLA def. [3] USC 5–3
Championship (May 11, 2014): [1] Stanford def. [2] UCLA 9–5
Annika Dries of Stanford was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
2013
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 10-12, 2013 with Harvard University, Cambridge, MA hosting. Eight teams participated. Conference champions from the MPSF, WWPA, SCIAC, CWPA, MAAC, and Big West were joined by two at-large teams.
Tournament First Round games (May 10, 2013): No. 2 seed Stanford (27-2) def. No. 7 seed Iona (21-8) 20–3; No. 3 seed UCLA (26-6) def. No. 6 seed Princeton (26-5) 8–6; No. 1 seed Southern California (24-1) def. Pomona-Pitzer (18-16) 27–1; No. 4 seed Hawaii (21-9) def. No. 5 seed UC San Diego (25-13) 13–6
Semi-finals (May 11, 2013): No. 2 seed Stanford (28-2) def. No. 3 seed UCLA (27-6) 5–3; No. 1 seed Southern California (25-1) def. No. 4 seed Hawaii (22-9) 16–9
Championship (May 12, 2013): No. 1 seed Southern California (26-1) def. No. 2 seed Stanford (29-2), 10-95OT
2012
The tournament was held at the SDSU's Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego, California with automatic bids for the MPSF, CWPA, Big West, MAAC, WWPA and SCIAC conferences. The three-day championships on May 11–13, 2012, also had two at-large teams.
Tournament First Round games (May 11, 2012): No. 1 Stanford (23-2) def. No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer (21-16) 17–5; No. 2 UCLA (21-3) def. No. 7 Iona (24-11) 14–3; No. 3 Southern California (21-5) def. No. 6 Princeton (28-4) 14–2; No. 4 UC Irvine (24-6) def. No. 5 Loyola Marymount (20-9) 8–6.
Semi-finals (May 12, 2012: No. 1 Stanford (24-2) vs. No. 4 UC Irvine (25-6); No. 2 UCLA (22-3) vs. No. 3 Southern California (22-5).
Championship (May 13, 2012): No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 3 Southern California.
2011
The tournament was held at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan with automatic bids for the MPSF (Stanford), CWPA (Indiana), Big West (UCI), MAAC (Iona), WWPA (UCSD) and SCIAC (Redlands). The three-day championships on May 13–15, 2011, also had two at-large teams.
Tournament First Round games: No. 1 Stanford (25-1) vs. No. 8 Iona College/University of Redlands (play-in winner); No. 5 UCI (21-8) vs. No. 4 USC (18-6); No. 3 UCLA (24-6) vs. No. 6 Indiana (21-8); No. 7 UCSD (17-18) vs. No. 2 California (24-4) Semi-finals: No. 2 California def. No. 3 UCLA 7–4; No. 1 Stanford def. No. 4 Southern California 8–4
Championship: No. 1 Stanford defeated No. 2 California 9-5 for its second national title.
All Tournament First Team: Amber Oland, Stanford; Annika Dries, Stanford; Emily Csikos, Cal; Kim Krueger, Stanford; Patricia Jancso, USC; Melissa Seidemann, Stanford; Dana Ochsner, Cal; Priscilla Orozco, UCLA
All Tournament Second Team: Stephane Peckham, Cal; Jakie Kohli, Indiana; Joelle Bekhazi, USC; KK Clark, UCLA; Cortney Collyer, UC Irvine; Jessy Cardey, UC Irvine; Maggie Wood, Iona; Kelly Easterday, UCLA
Tournament MVP: Annika Dries, Stanford
2010
The tournament field was announced on Monday, May 3, 2010 with the championship tournament on May 14–16 at San Diego State University's Aztec Aquaplex. Teams that received automatic bids were UCLA (MPSF), Michigan (CWPA), Marist (MAAC), Loyola Marymount (WWPA) and Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC). Stanford, Cal and USC of MPSF received at-large bids.
Tournament Bracket: #1 Stanford (24-2) vs. #8 Pomona-Pitzer (18-14); #2 USC (22-3) vs. #7 Marist (18-14); #3 UCLA (20-7) vs. #6 Loyola Marymount (27-4); #4 Cal (24-8) vs. #5 Michigan (32-6)
Southern California (25-3) defeated Stanford in the title game 10-9 for its second national title in school history.
2009
The following conferences and institutions received automatic qualification for the 2009 championships, which were played on May 8–10: Collegiate Water Polo Association, Michigan; Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Marist; Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, USC; Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Cal Lutheran; and Western Water Polo Association, Loyola Marymount. The following institutions received at-large bids to the championship field: Stanford, UCLA, and Hawaii.
The first round games: #1 seed USC (24-1) vs. #8 Cal Lutheran (19-12); #2 Stanford (24-3) vs. #7 Marist (18-13); #3 UCLA (22-6) vs. #6 Michigan (33-8); and #4 Hawaii (18-8) vs. # 5 Loyola Marymount (24-7).
The UCLA Bruins women's team (3rd seeded) battled the #1 rated USC Trojans for the national championship on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at College Park, Maryland. With two goals from Tanya Gandy in the first minute of the game, UCLA won a record fifth consecutive crown, 11th national title and 7th NCAA crown.[1] Gandy earned the NCAA Tournament's most valuable player honor.
See also
References
- 1 2 UCLA defeats USC, claims NCAA women's water polo title, Los Angeles Daily News, May 10, 2009
- ↑ National Collegiate Women's Records Book
- ↑ Women's Water Polo Wins UCLA's 100th NCAA Title. Bruins capture third consecutive women's water polo crown with 5-4 win over Stanford. UCLA Athletic Department, May 13, 2007
- ↑ UCLA Defeats USC, 6-3, To Win Fourth-Straight NCAA Title. Women's water polo goes undefeated to win UCLA's 101st NCAA championship. UCLA Athletic Department, May 11, 2008.
External links
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