NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship


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, the single-sport Golden Coast Conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Western Water Polo Association. Some teams compete at Division III either as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or independently. Teams qualify by either winning their respective conference tournament or receiving one of the few at large bids available.

Champions

Team titles

TeamNumberYear Won
Stanford72002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019
UCLA72001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
USC52004, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018

Tournaments

2018

The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 8–13, 2018 at the USC Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California. Ten teams were selected to participate in the annual event. Conference champions from the Big West, CWPA, Golden Coast Conference, MAAC, MPSF, SCIAC and WWPA are represented with the seven automatic bids. They were joined by three at-large teams, with play-in games ahead of the tournament.
Conference Champions:
Opening Round : Wagner def. UC-San Diego 10-7, UC Irvine def. Pomona-Pitzer 16–2
First Round : No. 1 USC def. Wagner 12–5; No. 4 UCLA def. Pacific 8-4; No. 2 Stanford def. UC Irvine 14-8; No. 3 California def. Michigan 13–6
Semi-finals : No. 1 USC def. No. 4 UCLA 10–6; No. 2 Stanford def. No. 3 California 11–7
Championship : No. 1 USC def. No. 2 Stanford 5-4

2017

The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 12–14, 2017 at the IU Natatorium; Indianapolis, IN. Ten teams were selected to participate in the annual event. Conference champions from the Big West, CWPA, Golden Coast Conference, MAAC, MPSF, SCIAC and WWPA are represented with the seven automatic bids. They are joined by three at-large teams, with play-in games ahead of the tournament.
Conference Champions:
Opening Round : Wagner def. UC-San Diego 6–5, Pacific def. Pomona-Pitzer 11–5
First Round : No. 1 UCLA def. Wagner 17–2; California def. No. 4 UC Irvine 9–7; No. 2 Stanford def. Pacific 13–6; No. 3 USC def. Michigan 12–6
Semi-finals : No. 1 UCLA def. Cal 14–11; No. 2 Stanford def. No. 3 USC 11–10
Championship : No. 2 Stanford def. No. 1 UCLA 8-7
Maggie Steffens of Stanford, who scored the winning goal against UCLA with 9 seconds left, was named the tournament's most valuable player.

2016

The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 13–15, 2016 with UCLA, Los Angeles hosting. Eight teams were selected to participate in the annual event. Conference champions from the Big West, CWPA, Golden Coast Conference, MAAC, MPSF, SCIAC and WWPA were represented with the seven automatic bids. They were joined by three at-large teams, with play-in games conducted on May 10, 2016.
Play-in games : San Diego State def. Wagner 7–4, UC San Diego def. Whitter 11–7
Tournament First Round games : UCLA def. UC San Diego 17-4, Stanford def. UC Santa Barbara 12-5, Southern California def. San Diego State 12-3, Michigan def. Arizona State 5-4
Semi-finals : Southern California def. Michigan 9-6, Stanford def. UCLA 7-4
Championship : Southern California def. Stanford 8–7

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: UC San Diego def. Whittier 17–11, Princeton def. Wagner 12–2.
Tournament First Round games : UCLA def. UC San Diego 9–2, California def. UCI 6–5, Southern Cal def. Hawaii 14–7, Stanford def. Princeton 7–2.
Semi-finals : UCLA def. California 9–5, Stanford def. Southern Cal 9–8
Championship : Stanford def. UCLA, 7–6

2014

The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was held on May 9–11, 2014 with USC, Los Angeles 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 UC San Diego defeating No. 10 seed Pomona Pitzer 13–9.
Tournament First Round games : No. 1 seed Stanford def. No. 8 seed Indiana 18–2, No. 2 seed UCLA def. No. 7 seed UC San Diego 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 : Stanford def. California 12–8, UCLA def. USC 5–3
Championship : Stanford def. 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 : No. 2 seed Stanford def. No. 7 seed Iona 20–3; No. 3 seed UCLA def. No. 6 seed Princeton 8–6; No. 1 seed Southern California def. Pomona-Pitzer 27–1; No. 4 seed Hawaii def. No. 5 seed UC San Diego 13–6
Semi-finals : No. 2 seed Stanford def. No. 3 seed UCLA 5–3; No. 1 seed Southern California def. No. 4 seed Hawaii 16–9
Championship : No. 1 seed Southern California def. No. 2 seed Stanford, 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 : No. 1 Stanford def. No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer 17–5; No. 2 UCLA def. No. 7 Iona 14–3; No. 3 Southern California def. No. 6 Princeton 14–2; No. 4 UC Irvine def. No. 5 Loyola Marymount 8–6.
Semi-finals : No. 1 Stanford def. No. 3 Southern California 6-4.

2011

The tournament was held at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan with automatic bids for the MPSF, CWPA, Big West, MAAC, WWPA and SCIAC. The three-day championships on May 13–15, 2011, also had two at-large teams.
Tournament First Round games: No. 1 Stanford def. No. 8 Iona College/University of Redlands 22-7; No. 4 USC def. No. 5 UCI 14-9; No. 3 UCLA def. No. 6 Indiana 8-5; No. 2 California def. No. 7 UC San Diego 13-5.
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, Michigan, Marist, Loyola Marymount and Pomona-Pitzer. Stanford, Cal and USC of MPSF received at-large bids.
Tournament Bracket: #1 Stanford def. #8 Pomona-Pitzer 23-3; #2 USC def. #7 Marist 20-5; #6 Loyola Marymount def. #3 UCLA 5-4; #4 Cal def. #5 Michigan 12-8.
Semi-finals: #1 Stanford def. #4 Cal 6-3; #2 USC def. #6 Loyola Marymount 10-6.
Southern California 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 def. #8 Cal Lutheran 22-2; #2 Stanford def. #7 Marist 21-5; #3 UCLA def. #6 Michigan 13-6; and #4 Hawaii def. # 5 Loyola Marymount 11-7.
Semi-finals: #1 USC def. #4 Hawaii 17-5; #3 UCLA def. #2 Stanford 12-11.
The UCLA Bruins women's team 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, by a score of 5-4. Gandy earned the NCAA Tournament's most valuable player honor.