The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship is an annual tournament to determine the national champion 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 ...

men's collegiate

water polo Water polo is a 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 ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

. 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 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 ...

, are eligible to compete each year in the

National Collegiate 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 ...

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. 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 California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

is the most successful program with 15 titles, followed by

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 St ...

with 12 titles,

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

(11 titles), and USC (10 titles). One of these four schools has won the championship every year since 1998.

Championships summary

;Notes

Team titles

Recent championships

2009 Championship

Semifinals scores ''(Princeton University, December 5, 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm (ET))'': * #1

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

13 vs. #4

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

3; #2

9 vs. #3 Loyola Marymount 8 (2 OT) National Championship ''(Princeton University, December 6, 2:00 pm (ET))'': * #1

(25-2) vs. #2

(23-6) 2009 NCAA All-Tournament Teams: * First-Team – Shea Buckner, USC; Scott Davidson, UCLA; Ben Hohl, UCLA; Tibor Forai, LMU;

J. W. Krumpholz James W. "J.W." Krumpholz (born September 22, 1987) is an American water polo player. He is a member of the United States men's national water polo team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the championship game, the USA team won the silver medal, d ...

, 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 Joshua Martin Kugler Samuels (born 8 July 1991) is a water polo player from the United States. He played for the United States men's national water polo team that won a gold medal in water polo at the 2015 Pan American Games, and competed for th ...

, UCLA; Eric Vreeland, Princeton; Griffin White, UCLA; Mark Zalewski, Princeton

2010 Championship

Semifinals ''(December 4, 2010, Spieker Aquatics Complex,

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

)'' *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) 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

2011 Championship

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,

)'' * 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 2011 NCAA All-Tournament Teams: * First-Team – Joel Dennerley (MOP), Peter Kurzeka and Nikola Vavic, USC;

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.

2012 Championship

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.

2013 Championship

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 game A play-in gameTh ...

s 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.

2014 Championship

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 6 and 7, 2014 at UC San Diego's

Canyonview Aquatic Center Canyonview Aquatic Center is the main aquatic center at the University of California San Diego, comprising two Olympic-size swimming pools, bleacher seating, and associated fitness facilities. It is located on the Warren College campus and serves ...

La Jolla, CA La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

. 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

2015 Championship

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 5 and 6, 2015 at UCLA's

Spieker Aquatics Center The Spieker Aquatics Center is a 2,500-capacity stadium in Los Angeles, California used by UCLA water polo, swimming, and diving teams. The $14-million center was built in 2009 and is named for Tod and Catherine Spieker. Tod was a student-athl ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. 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. 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

2016 Championship

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

2017 Championship

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 2 and 3, 2017 at USC,

. 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

2018 Championship

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. 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

2019 Championship

The NCAA men's water polo championship was held December 7 and 8, 2019 at the Chris Kjeldsen Aquatic Center,

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

. 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. 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

2020 Championship

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

2021 Championship

The tournament was held at the

, 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.

2022 Championship

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

References

External links

NCAA Men's Water Polo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ncaa Men's Water Polo Championship