The 2001

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 (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conferen ...

was the first annual tournament to determine the national championship of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

women's collegiate

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

. The single elimination tournament was played at the

Avery Aquatic Center The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of ...

during May 2001.

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

defeated Stanford in the final, 5–4, to win their first NCAA championship. The Bruins (19–4) were coached by

Adam Krikorian Adam Krikorian (born July 22, 1974) is an American water polo coach and the head coach of the United States women's national water polo team. He coached the team to gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2016 Olympic Games, and 2020 Olympic Games. ...

. Krikorian also won a

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

as the coach of UCLA's men's water polo team during the same 2000–01 season. The leading scorer for the tournament was Kelly Heuchan, from

, with 4 goals. First and second ''All Tournament Teams'' were also named, with seven players comprising the former (including the tournament's ''Most Outstanding Player'', Coralie Simmons from UCLA) and six for the latter.

Qualification

Since there has only ever been one single national championship for women's water polo, all

women's water polo programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

) were eligible. A total of 4 teams were invited to contest this championship.

Tournament bracket

*Site:

All tournament teams

First Team

* Coralie Simmons, UCLA (Most Outstanding Player) *

Robin Beauregard Robin Mary Beauregard (born February 23, 1979 in Long Beach, California) is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Beauregard plays the posit ...

, UCLA * Kelly Heuchan, UCLA * Jackie Frank, Stanford * Ellen Estes, Stanford *

Brenda Villa Brenda Villa (born April 18, 1980) is an accomplished American water polo player. She is the most decorated athlete in the world of women’s water polo. Villa was named Female Water Polo Player of the Decade for 2000-2009 by the FINA Aquatics Wo ...

, Stanford * Lucy Windes, Loyola Marymount

Second Team

* Margie Dingeldein, Stanford * Jamie Hipp, UCLA * Elaine Zivich, UCLA * Jamie Kroeze, Loyola Marymount * Jenny Lamb, UCLA * Kristin Guerin, UCLA

References

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