NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

Founded	1969
Number of teams	8
Current champions	University of California, Los Angeles (13)
Most successful club(s)	University of California, Berkeley (17)
Website	NCAA.com

The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship is an annual tournament that determines the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Beginning in 1969, it has been held every year except 2020, when it was postponed to March 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a limited number of NCAA water polo programs at the national level, all men's teams, whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III, are eligible to compete each year in the National Collegiate tournament. The tournament was expanded from a four-team bracket in 2013 by adding two play-in games that are contested by the bottom four seeds, effectively creating a six-team bracket with a first-round bye for the top two teams. Starting with the 2023 tournament, the number of teams was increased to eight teams. This makes it the sport with the fewest teams reaching the NCAA tournament; this is because there are only 43 men's water polo teams between all three NCAA divisions.

While the championship often includes teams from around the country, most programs are located within the state of California, and no school from outside California has ever surpassed third place or participated in the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship game.

The four California based Pac-12 schools have been the most successful. The University of California, Berkeley is the most successful program with 17 titles, followed by UCLA with 13 titles, Stanford (11 titles), and USC (10 titles).^[1] One of these four schools has won the championship every year since 1998.

NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
Year	Site	Pool/Natatorium		Championship Results
				Champion	Score	Runner-Up
1969	Long Beach, CA	Belmont Plaza Pool		UCLA	5–2	California
1970				UC Irvine	7–6 (3OT)	UCLA
1971				UCLA (2)	5–3	San Jose State
1972	Albuquerque, NM	Armond H. Seidler Natatorium		UCLA (3)	10–5	UC Irvine
1973	Long Beach, CA	Belmont Plaza Pool		California	8–4	UC Irvine
1974				California (2)	7–6	UC Irvine
1975				California (3)	9–8	UC Irvine
1976				Stanford	13–12	UCLA
1977	Providence, RI	Smith Swim Center[2]		California (4)	8–6	UC Irvine
1978	Long Beach, CA	Belmont Plaza Pool		Stanford (2)	7–6 (3OT)	California
1979				UC Santa Barbara	11–3	UCLA
1980				Stanford (3)	8–6	California
1981				Stanford (4)	17–6	Long Beach State
1982				UC Irvine (2)	7–4	Stanford
1983				California (5)	10–7	USC
1984				California (6)	9–8	Stanford
1985				Stanford (5)	12–11 (2OT)	UC Irvine
1986				Stanford (6)	9–6	California
1987				California (7)	9–8 (OT)	USC
1988				California (8)	14–11	UCLA
1989	Indianapolis, IN	Indiana University Natatorium		UC Irvine (3)	9–8	California
1990	Long Beach, CA	Belmont Plaza Pool		California (9)	8–7	Stanford
1991				California (10)	7–6	UCLA
1992				California (11)	12–11 (3OT)	Stanford
1993				Stanford (7)	11–9	USC
1994				Stanford (8)	14–10	USC
1995	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		UCLA (4)	10–8	California
1996	La Jolla, San Diego, CA	Canyonview Pool		UCLA (5)	8–7	USC
1997	Fort Lauderdale, FL	International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatics Complex		Pepperdine	8–7 (2OT)	USC
1998	Newport Beach, CA	Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center		USC	9–8 (2OT)	Stanford
1999	La Jolla, San Diego, CA	Canyonview Pool		UCLA (6)	6–5	Stanford
2000	Malibu, CA	Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool		UCLA (7)	11–2	UC San Diego
2001	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		Stanford (9)	8–5	UCLA
2002	Los Angeles, CA	Burns Aquatics Center		Stanford (10)	7–6	California
2003	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		USC (2)	9–7 (2OT)	Stanford
2004				UCLA (8)	10–9 (OT)	Stanford
2005	Lewisburg, PA	Kinney Natatorium		USC (3)	3–2	Stanford
2006	Los Angeles, CA	Burns Aquatics Center		California (12)	7–6	USC
2007	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		California (13)	8–6	USC
2008				USC (4)	7–5	Stanford
2009	Princeton, NJ	DeNunzio Pool		USC (5)	7–6	UCLA
2010	Berkeley, CA	Spieker Aquatics Complex		USC (6)	12–10 (OT)	California
2011				USC (7)	7–4	UCLA
2012	Los Angeles, CA	McDonald's Swim Stadium		USC (8)	11–10	UCLA
2013	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		USC (9)	12-11 (2OT)	Pacific
2014	La Jolla, San Diego, CA	Canyonview Pool		UCLA (9)	9-8	USC
2015	Los Angeles, CA	Spieker Aquatics Center		UCLA (10)	10-7	USC
2016	Berkeley, CA	Spieker Aquatics Complex		California (14)	11-8 (2OT)	USC
2017	Los Angeles, CA	Uytengsu Aquatics Center		UCLA (11)	7-5	USC
2018	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		USC (10)	14-12	Stanford
2019	Stockton, CA	Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex		Stanford (11)	13-8	Pacific
2020[a]	Los Angeles, CA	Uytengsu Aquatics Center		UCLA (12)	7-6	USC
2021		Spieker Aquatics Center		California (15)	13-12	USC
2022	Berkeley, CA	Spieker Aquatics Complex		California (16)	13-12	USC
2023	Los Angeles, CA	Uytengsu Aquatics Center		California (17)	13–11	UCLA
2024	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center		UCLA (13)	11–8	USC
2025	Stanford, CA	Avery Aquatic Center
2026	La Jolla, San Diego, CA	Canyonview Pool
2027	Davis, CA	Schaal Aquatics Center

Notes

Team	#	Years
California	17	1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023
UCLA	13	1969, 1971, 1972, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2024
Stanford	11	1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2019
USC	10	1998, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018
UC Irvine	3	1970, 1982, 1989
Pepperdine	1	1997
UC Santa Barbara		1979

Key

•  CH  National Champion
•  RU  National Runner-up
•  SF  Semifinals
•  QF  Quarterfinals (8 teams 1969 to 1994, 2023-Present, 2 teams 2013 to 2022)
•  •  Opening Round (1 or 2 teams since 2015, except for 2020)

Semifinals scores (Princeton University, December 5, 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm (ET)):

• #1 USC 13 vs. #4 Princeton 3; #2 UCLA 9 vs. #3 Loyola Marymount 8 (2 OT)

National Championship (Princeton University, December 6, 2:00 pm (ET)):

• #1 USC (25-2) vs. #2 UCLA (23-6)

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 5, 3:00 pm
	#1 USC	13
					December 6, 2:00 pm
	#4 Princeton	3
					#1 USC	7
	December 5, 5:00 pm
					#2 UCLA	6
	#2 UCLA	9
	#3 Loyola Marymount	8 (2 OT)
					Third place

2009 NCAA All-Tournament Teams:

• First-Team – Shea Buckner, USC; Scott Davidson, UCLA; Ben Hohl, UCLA; Tibor Forai, LMU; J. W. Krumpholz, USC; Andy Stevens, LMU; Jordan Thompson, USC (MVP)
• Second-Team – Edgaras Asajavicius, LMU; Matt Hale, Princeton; Cullen Hennessy, UCLA; Chay Lapin, UCLA; Matt Sagehorn, USC; Josh Samuels, UCLA; Eric Vreeland, Princeton; Griffin White, UCLA; Mark Zalewski, Princeton

Semifinals (December 4, 2010, Spieker Aquatics Complex, University of California, Berkeley, California)

• USC def. St. Francis (NY) 10-7
• California def. Loyola Marymount 7-6

Championship (December 5, 2010, Spieker Aquatics Complex, University of California, Berkeley, California)

• USC def. California 12-10 (OT)

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 4
	USC	10
					December 5
	St. Francis (NY)	7
					USC	12
	December 4
					Cal	10 (OT)
	Cal	7
	Loyola Marymount	6
					Third place
					December 5
					Loyola Marymount
					St. Francis (NY)

2010 NCAA All-Tournament Teams:

• First-Team – Peter Kurzeka, USC (MVP); Ivan Rackov, CAL; Zachary White, CAL; Tibor Forai, LMU; Nikola Vavic, USC; Andy Stevens, LMU; Brian Dudley, CAL
• Second-Team – Boris Plavsic, SFC; Ikaika Aki, LMU; Marko Gencic, SFC; Jeremy Davie, USC; Joel Dennerley, USC; Matt Burton, USC; Cory Nasoff, CAL

Conferences receiving automatic qualification included the Collegiate Water Polo Association, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Western Water Polo Association. The remaining team was selected at-large without geographical restrictions.

Semifinals (December 3, 2011, Spieker Aquatics Complex, University of California, Berkeley, California)

• USC (22-3) def. Princeton (21-9) 17–4
• UCLA (23-4) def. UC-San Diego (17-9) 10–1

Championship (December 4, 2010, Spieker Aquatics Complex, University of California, Berkeley, California)

• Third-place game, Princeton def. UC San Diego 9-7
• Championship game, USC def. UCLA 7–4

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 3
	USC	17
					December 4
	Princeton	4
					USC	7
	December 3
					UCLA	4
	UCLA	10
	UC-San Diego	1
					Third place
					December 4
					Princeton	9
					UC-San Diego	7

2011 NCAA All-Tournament Teams:

• First-Team – Joel Dennerley (MOP), Peter Kurzeka and Nikola Vavic, USC; Josh Samuels and Cullen Hennessy, UCLA; Thomas Nelson, Princeton and Graham Saber, UC San Diego.
• Second-team – Matt Rapacz, Griffin White and Cristiano Mirarchi, UCLA; Jeremy Davie and Mace Rapsey, USC; Drew Hoffenberg, Princeton, and Brian Donohoe, UC San Diego.

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 1 and 2, 2012 at Southern California's McDonald's Swim Stadium. Conferences receiving automatic qualification included the Collegiate Water Polo Association, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Western Water Polo Association. The remaining team was selected at-large without geographical restrictions. All four championship games will be streamed live on www.NCAA.com.

Semifinals - December 1, 2012

• Southern California (27-0) vs. Air Force (19-10) 4 p.m. ET
• UCLA (27-4) vs. St. Francis (N.Y.) (16-8) 6:12 p.m. ET

Finals - December 2, 2012

• Third-place game played at 4 p.m. ET
• The championship game played at 6:12 p.m. ET.

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 1, 4:00 PM
	#1 Southern California	18
					December 2, 6:12 PM
	#4 Air Force	7
					Southern California	11
	December 1, 6:12 PM
					UCLA	10
	#2 UCLA	17
	#3 St. Francis Brooklyn	3
					Third place
					December 2, 4:00 PM
					St. Francis Brooklyn	14
					Air Force	8

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 7 and 8, 2013 at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center. This season marked the introduction of an expanded format. Six teams were seeded into the tournament, with the bottom four participating in Play-in games to fill the four team bracket. Four conferences received automatic qualification: the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining two teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions. The tournament was seeded by the Men's Water Polo Committee on December 1. Conference representatives were Southern Cal (MPSF), Whittier College (SCIAC), UC San Diego (WWPA), and St. Francis College Brooklyn (CWPA).

Play-in – December 5, 2013

• Game 1: #5 St. Francis College Brooklyn (22-10) def. #4 UC San Diego (14-13) 6-5
• Game 2: #3 Stanford (21-5) def. #6 Whittier College (19-12) 20-3

Semifinals – December 7, 2013

• 1 p.m. – Seed No.1 Southern Cal (26-4) def. #5 St. Francis College Brooklyn (23-10) 10–3
• 2:45 p.m. – Seed No. 2 Pacific (22-4) def. #3 Stanford (22-5) 11–10

Finals – December 8, 2013

• Third-place game played at 1 p.m.
• The championship game played at 3 p.m.

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 7, 1:00 PM
	#1 Southern California	10
					December 8, 3:00 PM
	#4 St. Francis Brooklyn	3
					Southern California	12
	December 7, 2:45 PM
					Pacific	11(2 OT)
	#2 Pacific	11
	#3 Stanford	10
					Third place
					December 8, 1:00 PM
					St. Francis Brooklyn	2
					Stanford	17

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 6 and 7, 2014 at UC San Diego's Canyonview Aquatic Center, La Jolla, CA. The tournament continued with the new format by adding two more teams to play in the four-team play-in games. Conferences received automatic qualification were the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions. They were selected by the Men's Water Polo Committee on November 23, 2014.

Play-in – November 29, 2014

• Game 1: #4 UC San Diego (15-9) def. #5 Brown University (26-6) 12–7
• Game 2: #3 USC (22-6) def. #6 Whittier (23-12) 19-4

Semifinals – December 6, 2014

• Game 3, 1:00 PM PT: #1 seed UCLA (27-3) def. #4 seed UC San Diego (16-9) 15–6
• Game 4, 3:12 PM PT: #3 seed USC (23-6) def. #2 seed Stanford (25-3) 12–11 in triple OT

Championship Dec. 7, 2014

• Third-place game, 1:00 p.m. PT: #2 seed Stanford def. #4 seed UC San Diego 20–11
• National Championship Game, 3:12 p.m. PT: #1 seed UCLA def. #3 seed USC 9–8

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 5 and 6, 2015 at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center, Los Angeles. The tournament continued with the new format by adding two more teams to play in the four-team play-in games. Conferences received automatic qualification were the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions. They were selected by the Men's Water Polo Committee on November 22, 2015.^[3]

Play-in – December 2, 2015

• Game 1: #5 UCSD (14–13) def. #4 Princeton (22–4) 12–7
• Game 2: #3 USC (20–6) def. #6 Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges (21–7) 20–5

Semifinals – December 5, 2015

• Game 3, 1:00 PM PT: #1 seed UCLA (28–0) def. #5 UCSD (15–13) 17–4
• Game 4, 3:12 PM PT: #3 USC (21–6) def. #2 seed California (23–6) 9–6

Championship Dec. 6, 2015

• Third-place game, 1:00 p.m. PT: Cal def. UCSD 20–9
• National Championship Game, 3:12 p.m. PT: UCLA def. USC 10–7^[4]

California defeated USC 11-8 (2OT) for the national championship.

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 2 and 3, 2017 at USC, Los Angeles. The tournament continued with the new format with eight teams playing for the championship. Conferences received automatic qualification are the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), Golden Coast Conference (GCC), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining two teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions.

Opening round – November 25, 2017

• Pacific defeated Pomona-Pitzer 16–2
• Harvard defeated George Washington 15–13

First round – November 30, 2017

• Pacific defeated UC Davis 13–12
• USC defeated Harvard 16–4

Semifinals – December 2, 2017

• UCLA defeated Pacific 11–9
• USC defeated California 12–11

Championship – December 3, 2017

• UCLA defeated USC 7–5

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 1 and 2, 2018 at Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California. The tournament continued with the format in which eight teams competed for the championship. Teams qualifying as champions of their conferences were Long Beach State, from the Golden Coast Conference (GCC); George Washington, from the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC); Stanford, from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF); Princeton, from the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC); Pomona-Pitzer, from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC); and UC San Diego, from the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining two teams, Southern California (MPSF) and UCLA (MPSF), were selected at-large without geographical restrictions. Stanford, the #1 seed, and Southern California, the #2 seed, were seeded into the semifinal round, with the other six teams competing for the final two spots in opening and first-round games.^{[5] [6]}

Opening round – November 24, 2018

• Long Beach St. def. Pomona-Pitzer 12–5 at Long Beach State
• George Washington def. Princeton 14–13 at Princeton

First round – November 29, 2018 (at Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California)

• UC San Diego def. Long Beach St. 14–9
• UCLA def. George Washington 18–6

Semifinals – December 1, 2018

• Stanford def. UC San Diego 16–7 (3:00 PM PT)
• USC def. UCLA 8–7 (5:00 PM PT)

Championship – December 2, 2018

• USC def. Stanford 14-12

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 7 and 8, 2019 at the Chris Kjeldsen Aquatic Center, Stockton, California. Seven teams played for the championship. Teams qualifying as champions of their conferences were Pepperdine, from the Golden Coast Conference (GCC); Bucknell, from the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC); Stanford, from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF); Harvard, from the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC); and UC Davis, from the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The remaining two teams, Southern California (MPSF) and Pacific (GCC), were selected at-large without geographical restrictions. Stanford, the #1 seed, and Pacific, the #2 seed, were seeded into the semifinal round, with the other five teams competing for the final two spots.^[7][8] This was the first year since 1997 that Pepperdine made the playoffs, ending a 22 year drought.

Opening round – November 30, 2019

• Bucknell 13, Harvard 12

Opening round – Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019

• Southern California 15, Bucknell 9
• Pepperdine 15, UC Davis 12

Semifinals – Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019

• Stanford 15, Southern California 14 (3OT)
• Pacific 17, Pepperdine 13

Championship – Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019

• Stanford 13, Pacific 8

The tournament was played at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center, on the campus of USC in Los Angeles. UCLA's Nicolas Saveljic was chosen as the most valuable player after the Bruins defeated the Trojans for their 12th title.

Opening round – Thursday, March 18, 2021

• UCLA 19, California Baptist 14
• USC 18, Bucknell 9

Semifinals – Saturday, March 20, 2021

• No. 3 UCLA 11, No. 1 Stanford 10
• No. 4 USC 12, No. 2 California 10

Championship – Sunday, March 21, 2021

• No. 3 UCLA 7, No. 4 USC 6

The tournament was held at the Spieker Aquatics Center, on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles. California defeated Southern California 13-12 to win the 2021 NCAA water polo national championship. It was California's 15th title. Nikos Papanikolaou was the MVP of the tournament.

The national championship was held on December 3-4, 2022 at the Spieker Aquatics Complex on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, California. Cal defeated Southern California for the 2022 title 13–12.

First Round

• Nov. 26, Noon: Princeton (27-5) 11 def. Fordham (26-8) 10

Quarterfinals

• Game 1, Dec. 1, 3:00 PM PST: Pacific (22-6) 11 def. UC Davis (19-8) 7
• Game 2, Dec. 1, 5:00 PM PST: Southern California (19-6) 11 def. Princeton (26-6) 8

Semifinals

• Game 3, Dec. 3, 2:00 PM PST: Cal (22–2) 16 def. Pacific (22–7) 9
• Game 4, Dec. 3, 4:00 PM PST: Southern California (20–6) 15 def. UCLA (22–4) 12

Final

• Cal (23-2) 13 def. Southern California (21–6) 12

The national championship was held on December 1-3, 2023 at Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the campus of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Seven conferences were granted automatic bids. The Southern California Athletic Conference (SCIAC) declined an automatic invitation this year. The tournament was reduced to eight teams. This was the first year since 1993 that UC Irvine made the playoffs, breaking a 30 year drought.

• First round: Friday, Dec. 1, 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m.

• Second round: Saturday, Dec. 2, 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m.

• Championship: Sunday, Dec. 3, 3:00 p.m. PST, ESPNU

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	December 1, 2023
	(1) UCLA	20
					December 2, 2023
	Biola	7
					(1) UCLA	17
					(4) Princeton	13
	(4) Princeton	12
									December 3, 2023
	UC Irvine	7
									(1) UCLA	11
									(2) California	13
	(2) California	16
					December 2, 2023
	Fordham	6
					(2) California	10
					(3) Southern California	9
	(3) Southern California	18
	San José State	10

The national championship will be held on December 6-8, 2024 at Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford, California with eight teams participating.^[9] Six conferences received automatic selections: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, West Coast Conference, Northeast Water Polo Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Big West Conference, and Western Water Polo Association.

• First round: Friday, Dec. 6, 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. (PST)

• Second round: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. (PST)

• Championship: Sunday, Dec. 7, 3:00 p.m. (PST), ESPNU

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	December 6, 2024
	(1) UCLA (23-2)	22
					December 7, 2024
	Salem (WV) (20-3)	6
					(1) UCLA	17
					(4) Stanford	14
	(4) Stanford (21-4)	15
									December 8, 2024
	Princeton (23-8)	8
									(1) UCLA	11
									(2) Southern California	8
	(2) Southern California (21-5)	17
					December 7, 2024
	California Baptist (23-13)	13
					(2) Southern California	18
					(3) Fordham	16 (2OT)
	(3) Fordham (30-0)	16
	Long Beach St. (20-10)	11

• Ryder Dodd (UCLA) was named player-of-the match.

• Collegiate Water Polo Association
• Western Water Polo Association
• Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
• Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
• Golden Coast Conference

• NCAA Men's Water Polo