STANFORD UNIVERSITY RISES TO NO. 1 IN NCAA VARSITY POLL

Leapfrogging #2 UCLA for top spot.

Stanford University takes over as the No. 1 team in the country as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the Week 6/October 10 Men’s Varsity National Top 20, Division III Top 10, Northeast Water Polo Conference (NEWPC) Top Five and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Top Five Polls for the 2018 season.

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, which captured the 2017 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title, remains at No. 1 in the Division III Poll, while Harvard University retains its previous No. 1 rank in the NWPC Top Five.  Bucknell University regains the No. 1 spot in the MAWPC Top Five by dislodging George Washington University, who performed the same feat to the Bison last week.

Voted on by a panel of coaches from the MAWPC, NEWPC, Golden Coast Conference, Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), SCIAC and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls will be compiled and released on Wednesday during each week of the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.

2018 MEN’S VARSITY NATIONAL TOP 20 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)

The title of No. 1 team in the country changes hands this week as Stanford University moves up from No. 3 to surpass the University of Southern California and the University of California-Los Angeles and assume the top spot in the 2018 Week 6/October 10 National Men’s Varsity Top 20 Poll.

Stanford (98 points) barely claims sole custody of the No. 1 position as reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion UCLA (97 points) stands one point behind the Cardinal.

The change at the top of poll comes following a 13-11 victory by Stanford over USC during the weekend.  USC’s loss, combined with other results, causes massive shifts in the Top 20 as only six of the teams ranked last week retain their position from the October 3 balloting seven days later.

USC (91 points) drops back to No. 3 with the University of California (85 points), the University of California-Santa Barbara (79 points) and the University of the Pacific (76 points) sticking at No. 4-to-6, respectively.

The University of California-Davis (66 points), Pepperdine University (63 points) and Long Beach State University (61 points) ascend to No. 7-to-9, while Harvard University (54 points) slips to No. 10 in the aftermath of an 11-9 loss to Brown University.

The University of California-San Diego (48 points) and the University of California-Irvine (44 points) hold down the No. 11 and 12 berths, with Brown (38 points) and Princeton University (33 points) assuming the No. 13 and 14 slots.

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (28 points), California Baptist University (24 points), Bucknell University (23 points), San Jose State University (19 points), George Washington University (10 points) and Wagner College (6 points) conclude the Week 6 poll at No. 15-to-20.

2018 MEN’S VARSITY TOP 20 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)
Rank	Team	Week 5 Poll	Points
1	Stanford University	3	98
2	University of California-Los Angeles	2	97
3	University of Southern California	1	91
4	University of California	4	85
5	University of California-Santa Barbara	5	79
6	University of the Pacific	6	76
7	University of California-Davis	9	66
8	Pepperdine University	11	63
9	Long Beach State University	10	61
10	Harvard University	7	54
11	University of Caifornia-San Diego	8	48
12	University of California-Irvine	12 (T)	44
13	Brown University	RV	38
14	Princeton University	12 (T)	33
15	Pomona-Pitzer Colleges	15	28
16	California Baptist University	14	24
17	Bucknell University	20	23
18	San Jose State University	16	19
19	George Washington University	17	10
20	Wagner College	18	6
RV	Loyola Marymount University	19	4
RV	United States Naval Academy	NR	4
RV	St. Francis College Brooklyn	RV	2
RV	Santa Clara University	RV	1

2018 MEN’S VARSITY DIVISION III TOP 10 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)

The Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges remain at No. 1 in the Week 6/October 10 Men’s Varsity Division III Top 10 Poll.

Pomona-Pitzer (99 points) is followed by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (94 points) and Whittier College (89 points) as the Top Three teams remain unchanged. 

The University of Redlands (85 points) improves two positions to take over at No. 4 and drop Johns Hopkins University(80 points) and Chapman University (77 points) back to No. 5 and 6, respectively.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (70 points, the University of La Verne (64 points), California Lutheran University (61 points) and Occidental College (45 points) retain the No. 7-to-10 positions.

2018 MEN’S VARSITY DIVISION III TOP 10 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)
Rank	Team	Week 5 Poll	Points
1	Pomona-Pitzer Colleges	1	99
2	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges	2	94
3	Whittier College	3	89
4	University of Redlands	6	85
5	Johns Hopkins University	4	80
6	Chapman University	5	77
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	7	70
8	University of La Verne	8	64
9	California Lutheran University	9	61
10	Occidental College	10	45
RV	California Institute of Technology	NR	11

2018 MEN’S VARSITY MID-ATLANTIC WATER POLO CONFERENCE TOP 5 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)

The title of top team in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) returns to Bucknell University as the Bison reclaim the No. 1 spot in the Week 6/October 10 MAWPC Top Five Poll.

The 2016 MAWPC Champion, Bucknell (100 points) rates as a unanimous top choice after upending 2017 MAWPC Champion/previously No. 1 George Washingotn University (95 points) by a 13-12 score over the weekend at home in Kinney Natatorium.  The win avenged a 20-9 defeat at GW in Washington D.C. prior to the October 3 poll.

Due to the change at the top of the poll to drop GW down to No. 2, Wagner College (90 points) bumps back to No. 3 with the United States Naval Academy (85 points) and Johns Hopkins University (80 points) retaining their previous No. 4 and 5 spots.

The MAWPC features 14 teams as Bucknell, George Washington, Wagner, Johns Hopkins, Navy, Fordham University and La Salle University make-up the Eastern Region, with Gannon University, Mercyhurst University, Monmouth College, Salem University, Washington & Jefferson College, Connecticut College and McKendree University competing in the Western Region.

2018 MEN’S VARSITY MID-ATLANTIC WATER POLO CONFERENCE TOP 5 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)
Rank	Team	Week 5 Poll	Points
1	Bucknell University	3	100
2	George Washington University	1	95
3	Wagner College	2	90
4	United States Naval Academy	4	85
5	Johns Hopkins University	5	80

2018 MEN’S VARSITY NORTHEAST WATER POLO CONFERENCE TOP 5 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)

2016 and 2017 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Champion Harvard University clings to the No. 1 position in the NWPC Top Five Poll for another week as the Crimson rack-up 97 points to hold off Brown University and remain the top team in the Week 6/October 10 voting.

Harvard (97 points), which was a unanimous top selection last week, suffered an 11-9 loss to Brown (94 points) over the weekend.  However, the Crimson downed both Princeton University (9-8 W) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (19-15 W) to garner enough support and votes to retain their top billing for another week.

Brown rises from No. 4 to No. 2 on the strength of wins against Harvard, Princeton (11-10 W) and MIT (11-10 W OT), while St. Francis College Brooklyn (90 points) takes over at No. 3 after downing Princeton (12-10 W).

Princeton (89 points) slides back to No. 4 and MIT (80 points) holds on at No. 5 to round out the Week 6 voting.

2018 MEN’S VARSITY NORTHEAST WATER POLO CONFERENCE TOP 5 (WEEK 6/OCTOBER 10)
Rank	Team	Week 5 Poll	Points
1	Harvard University	1	97
2	Brown University	4	94
3	St. Francis College Brooklyn	3	90
4	Princeton University	2	89
5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5	80