USC Women Open 2019 Season at #1, Harvard Joins Top 25 (WP)

Defending National Collegiate women’s water polo champion USC checks in at No. 1 in the CWPA Varsity National Top 25 Preseason Poll after claiming their fifth NCAA title with a 5-4 win over Stanford in May.

National Coach of the Year Jovan Vavic returns four All-Americans from that team, which also won the MPSF title, including National Player of the Year Amanda Longan who is back her for senior season in goal.

All-Americans Paige Hauschild (1st team), Maud Megens (1st team) and Denise Mammolito (HM) also return.

Longan, who also was crowned as the MPSF Player of the Year, finished 2018 with 214 saves (11.03 per game) to go with a 5.24 goals against average.

Hauschild put in 68 goals, the most ever for a USC true freshman, including 25 against top five opponents, en route to MPSF Newcomer of the Year accolades.

Megens notched 2.2 goals per game in 17 appearances after missing 10 games due to injury early in the season. The MPSF Tournament MVP  and All-MPSF First Teamer improved on her second team All-America rookie campaign.

Mammolito produced 43 goals for the Trojans in 2018, second most on the team, including three scores in the NCAA title match.

Stanford is ranked second after their national runnerup finish in 2018. The Cardinal return three All-Americans in Makenzie Fischer (1st team), Aria Fischer (2nd team) and Kat Klass (3rd team). Makenzie Fischer earned her second All-America nod after leading the MPSF with a 2.79 goals per game (67 total), including 19 multi-score games.

Aria Fischer added 1.46 goals per game in MPSF play en route to All-America, second team All-MPSF and MPSF All-Newcomer honors as a rookie.

Klass is back for her senior season after earning a second team nod as a freshman and adding 39 goals her junior year (1.63 per game in MPSF action). She posted 11 multi-goal efforts, including four hat tricks.

UCLA, which ranked fourth in the final poll of 2018, moves up a spot to No. 3 to open 2019. Cal slips a spot from three to four, while Arizona State rounds out the top five. The Bruins and Bears each boast three returning All-Americans, while the Sun Devils bring back two honorees.

The 2018 Big West champions, Hawaii, check in at #6, tied with conference foe UC Irvine, up from No. 7 and 8 respectively.

Golden Coast Conference champs, Pacific, are #8, while defending Collegiate Water Polo Association champ Michigan and UC Davis round out the top 10.

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champs and National Collegiate Tournament participant Wagner is #14

UC San Diego, which won the regular season and WWPA tournament titles and was the only Division II team to advance to the national tournament, is #15. The Tritons bring back four All-Americans, including first teamer Chanel Schilling.

Harvard was the lone new addition to the 2018 final poll, moving from receiving votes into the No. 21 spot.

Pomona-Pitzer, which won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and represented the league at the National Collegiate tournament, received one vote in the poll, earning the #29 spot. The Sagehens will open the season as the top ranked Division III team, leading the CWPA’s Division III Top 10 Preseason Poll. 

2019 CWPA Women’s Varsity Top 25 Preseason Poll (1/16/19)

2019 Women’s Varsity Division III Top 10 Preseason Poll (1/16/19)