USC Remains #1, UC San Diego Climbs 5 Spots in CWPA Women’s Water Polo Poll

The top two teams remained the same in collegiate women’s water polo poll after Week 1 of competition.

USC, which will play its first match of the season on Saturday, is holding down the #1 position after leading the preseason poll. Stanford went 2-0, downing San Jose State 13-5 and Sonoma State 18-6 on Saturday.

UC Irvine moved up two spots from #5 to #3 after besting #4 Cal 12-7 and #7 Michigan 14-9 on Saturday at the UC Santa Barbara Winter Invite. The Anteaters’ win over Cal, which saw five players notch two goals apiece, was the program’s first since 2005. Elena Flynn and Tara Prentice paced UCI with four goals each against the Wolverines.

Hawaii climbed from #6 to #4 with a 3-0 effort at their home Hawaii Invite. The Rainbow Wahine topped #12 Loyola Marymount 21-5 and #14 Fresno State 15-5 on Saturday and #23 Marist 22-8 on Sunday. Alba Bonamusa Boix put in 10 goals over the three wins, with five against Marist, four vs. LMU and one against Fresno State.

UCLA rounds out the top five, falling three spots from #2 despite going 3-1 on the weekend. The Bruins started the weekend with a 16-6 win over #22 Cal State Northridge, but fell to host #11 UC Santa Barbara 9-8 to close out Friday.  UCLA rebounded with three straight wins, topping #13 UC San Diego 8-6 and Iona 16-4 on Saturday and Ottawa (Ariz.) 14-2 on Sunday. Abbi Hill paced the Bruins with nine goals.

Cal dropped out of the top five, falling from #4 to #6. The Bears dropped their opening match to UC Irvine (12-7), but came back to beat #11 UC Santa Barbara 8-5 and #7 Michigan 8-7. A 14-13 sudden death loss to #13 UC San Diego capped the team’s stay in Santa Barbara.

UC San Diego was the biggest mover of the week, vaulting up five spots from #13 to #8. The Tritons went 3-1 in Santa Barbara. After falling to #2 UCLA 8-6, the team rounded out the weekend with wins over Ottawa (Ariz.) (18-0), Iona (19-8) and #4 Cal (14-13 3OT). Ciara Franke put in eight goals for UCSD.

Cal State Northridge moved up three spots from 22 to 19. The Matadors bested #25 Azusa Pacific 7-6 and fell to #2 UCLA 16-6 on Friday. The team then split its Saturday matches, falling to #7 Michigan 8-7 and topping Ottawa (Ariz.) 14-3.

Loyola Marymount fell four spots from #12 to #16 after going 1-2 at the Hawaii Invite. The Lions dropped their opener against the Rainbow Wahine 21-5, but bounced back with a 14-8 win over #23 Marist. #14 Fresno State handed LMU an 8-6 loss on Sunday.

Brown, Santa Clara and Pomona Pitzer each received votes for the first time in 2020. Brown and Pomona-Pitzer did not play on Week 1.

Santa Clara, meanwhile, split contests at the UC Davis Tournament on Sunday. The Broncos beat Fresno Pacific 13-7, before falling to the host Aggies 11-4.

CWPA Top 25 Poll – Jan. 22, 2020

Rank Team 2020 Preseason Poll Points
1 University of Southern California 1 99
2 Stanford University 2 (T) 96
3 University of California-Irvine 5 92
4 University of Hawaii 6 87
5 University of California-Los Angeles 2 (T) 81
6 University of California 4 79
7 University of Michigan 7 74
8 University of California-San Diego 13 71
9 University of California-Santa Barbara 11 70
10 Arizona State University 8 68
11 University of the Pacific 9 62
12 University of California-Davis 10 57
13 Fresno State University 14 51
14 (T) Princeton University 15 (T) 41
14 (T) Long Beach State University 15 (T) 41
16 Loyola Marymount University 12 40
17 Harvard University 17 39
18 San Jose State University 18 32
19 California State University-Northridge 22 26
20 San Diego State University 19 24
21 Wagner College 21 19
22 Bucknell University 20 18
23 Indiana University 23 (T) 10
24 (T) Azusa Pacific University 25 8
24 (T) Marist College 23 (T) 8
RV California Baptist University RV 2
RV Brown University NR 2
RV Santa Clara University NR 2
RV California State University-East Bay RV 1
RV Pomona-Pitzer Colleges NR 1

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