The six collegiate men’s water polo conference tournament champions have been decided and the CWPA Top 20 poll has adjusted to reflect the results ahead of the NCAA Championships and USA Water Polo Division III Championships.
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion Stanford remains in the #1 spot for the third straight week. Bennett Williams scored four goals and Tyler Abramson logged a hat trick in the Cardinal’s semifinal win over UCLA. Abramson paced the team with four goals in the championship vs. Cal, while Quinn Woodhead added three scores.
USC, which was tied for the top spot for the last two weeks, dropped to #2 after a third place finish in MPSF tournament play. The Trojans fell to Cal 12-9 before rebounding with a 10-6 win over UCLA.
UCLA, which finished fourth at the MPSF Tournament, remains at #3 for the third straight week, despite going just 1-2 at the conference championships. The Bruins topped Penn State Behrend 27-4, before falling to #1 Stanford 16-15 in overtime and #1 USC 10-6 in the third place match.
Golden Coast Conference tournament champion Pepperdine and GCC regular season champ Pacific are tied with the Bruins at the #3 spot, after ranking fifth and fourth a week ago. The Waves moved up from #5, while the Tigers climbed one spot from #4.
Pepperdine defeated #5 UC Santa Barbara 10-9 in overtime and #8 Long Beach State 14-12 to claim the title. Balasz Kosa and Sean Thomas paced the team with hat tricks in the win over the Gauchos, while Kosa tacked on four scores vs. LBSU.
Pacific went 0-2 at the GCC Championships, falling to LBSU 13-12 and UC Santa Barbara 15-10 to finish fourth.
Long Beach State moved up from #8 to #7 after topping then #4 Pacific 13-12 in the semifinals of the GCC Championships.
Cal, which was the runnerup in the MPSF Tournament, actually dropped one spot from #7 to #8 despite downing then #1 USC 12-9 in the MPSF semifinals. The Bears fell to Stanford 17-11 in the championship match. Jordan Hoover notched a hat trick in the win over USC, while Safak Simsek led the way with four goals in the title match.
Northeast Water Polo Conference regular season and tournament champion Harvard, remains at #9 for the seventh week in a row. The Crimson downed #19 Princeton 8-7 to win the NWPC tournament crown and move to 29-0 on the year.
Western Water Polo Association champion UC Davis stands pat at #10 for the third straight week. The Aggies defeated #11 UC San Diego 14-5 for the WWPA title behind two goals from Kyle Reilly. UC Davis has won nine matches in a row.
Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference champion Bucknell climbed one spot to #12 after besting George Washington 9-4 for the league tournament title as Logan Schofield notched a hat trick. The Bison also topped La Salle 13-10 and Navy 7-5 on the weekend.
Cal Baptist shot up the poll three spots from #17 to #14 after posting its best-ever WWPA tournament finish. The Lancers moved past Santa Clara 12-10 in the third place game. PJ McDonough scored four goals to lead the team in its season-ending win.
Loyola Marymount dropped five places from 17 to 12, while Fordham fell out of the poll, moving from #16 to a spot among the vote getters outside the Top 20. The Lions fell to RV Santa Clara 11-10 in overtime on Friday, before rebounding with a 21-10 victory over Concordia (Irvine) in Saturday’s fifth place match. Joseph Cavazos scored six times to help LMU to a season-ending victory.
St. Francis Brooklyn, Navy and Air Force also earned spots among the vote getters.
The Terriers went 1-2 at the NWPC Tournament, topping MIT 18-8 before falling to #9 Harvard 15-9 and #19 Brown 19-18 in overtime.
The Midshipmen posted a 2-1 mark to finish third at the MAWPC tournament, defeating Wagner 16-12 and #16 Fordham 9-5 and falling to #13 Bucknell 7-5.
The Falcons split matches at the WWPA Championships, falling to #11 UC San Diego 14-10 and topping Fresno Pacific 14-5.
NCAA Championship action begins on Saturday as #9 Harvard faces #12 Bucknell.
CWPA Top 20 Poll – Nov. 27, 2019
| Rank | Team | Week 11 Poll | Points |
| 1 | Stanford University | 1 (T) | 100 |
| 2 | University of Southern California | 1 (T) | 91 |
| 3 (T) | University of California-Los Angeles | 3 | 84 |
| 3 (T) | Pepperdine University | 5 | 84 |
| 3 (T) | University of the Pacific | 4 | 84 |
| 6 | University of California-Santa Barbara | 6 | 75 |
| 7 | Long Beach State University | 8 | 70 |
| 8 | University of California | 7 | 69 |
| 9 | Harvard University | 9 | 62 |
| 10 | University of California-Davis | 10 | 58 |
| 11 | University of California-San Diego | 11 | 49 |
| 12 | Bucknell University | 13 (T) | 41 |
| 13 | San Jose State University | 13 (T) | 36 |
| 14 (T) | California Baptist University | 17 | 29 |
| 14 (T) | University of California-Irvine | 15 | 29 |
| 16 | George Washington University | 18 | 23 |
| 17 | Loyola Marymount University | 12 | 20 |
| 18 | Princeton University | 19 (T) | 17 |
| 19 | Brown University | 19 (T) | 12 |
| 20 | Santa Clara University | RV | 8 |
| RV | Fordham University | 16 | 7 |
| RV | United States Naval Academy | NR | 7 |
| RV | Whittier College | RV | 2 |
| RV | St. Francis College Brooklyn | NR | 1 |
| RV | United States Air Force Academy | NR | 1 |