Following 14 weeks of competition which saw teams rise from obscurity to prominence and early season favorites give way down the stretch, the 2014 men’s varsity season comes to a conclusion as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the Week 14/December 10/Final Men’s National Top 20 Poll.
For the University of California-Los Angeles, which finished Third at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship, the season concludes on a high note as the Bruins captured the 2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship and become the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation after tying with MPSF Champion Stanford University last week. The University of Southern California, which finished second at the NCAA Championship, moves up to No. 2, with Stanford dropping back to No. 3.
Long Beach State University, the University of California, the University of California-San Diego, the University of California-Santa Barbara, Brown University, University of the Pacific and Pepperdine University complete the Top 10.
Voted on by a panel of coaches from the CWPA, Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), MPSF, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls were compiled and released on Wednesday during each week of the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.
2014 Men’s Varsity National Top 20 (Week 14)
The University of California-Los Angeles, which was tied with Stanford University for the No. 1 position in last week’s Top 20 Poll, concludes the season as the unanimous top-team in the nation as the 2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion Bruins top the Week 14/December 10/Final National Top 20 Poll.
The Bruins (100 points) pick up their ninth No. 1 ranking of the season after leading the rankings in the Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 and Week 13 polls.
UCLA, which was ranked Third in the Preseason voting, completes its ascension to the top of the national water polo landscape thanks to a 9-8 defeat of the University of Southern California in the NCAA title game on Sunday, December 7, at the University of California-San Diego. The Bruins, who placed Third at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship earlier this season by defeating USC 10-5, advanced to the title tilt by downing the host Tritons of UC-San Diego by a 15-6 final count.
The Trojans of USC (95 points), who finished Fourth at the MPSF Championship, moved up to No. 2 in the final rankings as the squad downed former No. 1 ranked Stanford 12-11 in sudden death overtime to advance to the National Championship game. This marks the first time in seven years that the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 NCAA Champion Trojans do not finish the season at No. 1 in the National Top 20 Poll dating back to the University of California’s 8-6 defeat of USC in the 2007 NCAA Championship game at Stanford.
Stanford (91 points), which defeated UC-San Diego 20-11 in the NCAA Championship Third Place game, concludes the year at No. 3 after opening the 2014 campaign as the Preseason favorite. Long Beach State University (85 points), California (80 points), Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) champion UC-San Diego (74 points) and the University of California-Santa Barbara (70 points) retain their positions at No. 4-to-7, respectively, with Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) champion Brown University (60 points) and University of the Pacific (60 points) moving into a tie at No. 8.
Pepperdine University (56 points) completes the Top 10 as the Waves move back to No. 10 after tying with Pacific at No. 9 last week.
Princeton University (54 points) and the University of California-Irvine (48 points) break out of a tie at No. 11 to stand at No. 11 and 12 this week, while the University of California-Davis (37 points) holds firm at No. 13. Loyola Marymount University (29 points) and the United States Naval Academy (29 points) conclude the year tied at No. 14, with St. Francis College Brooklyn (24 points), Bucknell University (19 points), the United States Air Force Academy (15 points), Santa Clara University (12 points) and California Baptist University (6 points) completing the Top 20.
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) champion Whittier College (5 points), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (2 points) and Johns Hopkins University (2 points) also received votes.
Water Polo News courtesy of the Collegiate Water Polo Association.