UCLA takes over as the #1 team in collegiate men’s water polo after spending the entire 2019 season (nine weeks) in the #2 spot. This marks the Bruins’ first listing at #1 since owning the top poll position in the 2018 preseason and Sept. 5 polls.
The Bruins move up a spot after besting #14 UC Irvine 16-7 and #8 Cal 10-9 last week. Ashworth Molthen scored a career-best four goals vs. the Anteaters, while Felix Brozyna-Vilim and Jake Cavano put together hat tricks. In the MPSF opener against the Bears, Molthen, Brozyna-Vilim and Chasen Travisano found the back of the net twice each.
Stanford, which was #1 in the Oct. 2 through Oct. 30 listings (five weeks) and also in the Sept. 18 poll, snapped a 10-match winning streak with a 9-8 loss to then #7 USC on Saturday.
The victory moved the Trojans up three spots to #4 behind #3 Pacific, while bumping UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine and Cal down one place apiece to #5 through 7.
Cal Baptist moved up three spots from #19 into a tie for #16 after splitting matches with #13 Loyola Marymount (L 16-15) and Air Force (W 12-10 OT) last week. PJ McDonough and Logan Mena scored four goals apiece vs. LMU, while Joseph Galgani added a hat trick. Galgani and Mena each put in three scores vs. the Falcons.
Brown and George Washington moved from the list of vote getters outside of the Top 20 to #18 and #19 respectively. The Bears went 3-0 on the weekend, topping #18 Princeton (10-8), #17 St. Francis Brooklyn (11-10) and Iona (17-12) as Armen Deirmenjian tallied nine goals. He put in six goals in the victory over Iona, two in the upset of SFC and one vs. Princeton.
George Washington picked up two wins, topping Johns Hopkins 20-12 and outlasting Navy 17-14 in overtime. Jordan Blosser led the Colonials with four goals, while Gabriele Simonti and Nick Schroeder notched three apiece vs. Johns Hopkins. Against Navy, Atakan Destici and Simonti scored four times, while Schroeder logged a hat trick.
Princeton fell two spots to #20, while St. Francis Brooklyn and Pomona Pitzer dropped out of the Top 20 from #17 and #20 respectively.
Concordia (Irvine) earned a mention among the vote getters after facing #13 Loyola Marymount (L 17-14), #5 Pepperdine (L 19-8) and Cal Lutheran (W 19-16). Marius Jakimcikas put in four goals and Patrik Zsiros added three vs. LMU. Jakimcikas racked up seven scores against CLU, while Zsiros and Austin Barton each tallied hat tricks. Messan Moore led the way vs. the Waves with three scores.
CWPA Top 20 – Nov. 6, 2019
| Rank | Team | Week 8 Poll | Points |
| 1 | University of California-Los Angeles | 2 | 97 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 1 | 91 |
| 3 | University of the Pacific | 3 | 90 |
| 4 | University of Southern California | 7 | 86 |
| 5 | University of California-Santa Barbara | 4 | 82 |
| 6 | Pepperdine University | 5 | 77 |
| 7 | University of California | 8 | 69 |
| 8 | Long Beach State University | 6 | 65 |
| 9 | Harvard University | 9 (T) | 61 |
| 10 | University of California-San Diego | 9 (T) | 55 |
| 11 | University of California-Davis | 11 | 51 |
| 12 | Loyola Marymount University | 13 | 44 |
| 13 | San Jose State University | 12 | 40 |
| 14 | Bucknell University | 15 | 32 |
| 15 | University of California-Irvine | 14 | 27 |
| 16 (T) | California Baptist University | 19 | 20 |
| 16 (T) | Fordham University | 16 | 20 |
| 18 | Brown University | RV | 17 |
| 19 | George Washington University | RV | 11 |
| 20 | Princeton University | 18 | 10 |
| RV | St. Francis College Brooklyn | 17 | 6 |
| RV | Pomona-Pitzer Colleges | 20 | 4 |
| RV | Santa Clara University | RV | 1 |
| RV | Whittier College | RV | 1 |
| RV | Concordia University | NR | 1 |