CWPA Women’s Water Polo Top-Ten Entering Home Stretch of 2019 Season

UCLA Athletics - 2019 UCLA Women's Water Polo versus the University of Pacific Tigers, Sunset Recreational Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. March 29th, 2019 Copyright Don Liebig/ASUCLA 190329_WWP_0394.NEF

UCLA is off this week—which gives Bruin Head Coach Adam Wright time to prepare for arch-rival USC next Saturday. Photo Courtesy: Don Liebig

With the majority of matches remaining against conference foes, this weekend women’s water polo action will decide seeding for many of the eight conferences that will send teams to the 2019 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament—and will likely be reflected in the rankings at the top of the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Varsity Women’s Poll.

After ascending to the top spot in the polls for the first time since March 2018, last Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center #1 Stanford almost lost it to upset-minded UCLA. The Bruins pushed the Cardinal (16-1; 4-0 MPSF) around before the home team held on for a 7-6 win, Stanford’s sixth straight. Up next? Cal Berkeley and the annual Big Splash match, on Saturday at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex

There’s likely no surprising John Tanner’s team—especially against their arch-rivals—but the Cardinal coach is likely to remind his players what happened at last year’s Big Splash, when the Golden Bears stormed into Avery and tagged the Cardinal with a 7-6 loss in sudden death overtime. That’s likely NOT happening again this weekend—especially because a win guarantees Stanford top seeding in the MPSF—and a first round bye.

usc Wither #2 Southern Cal? Traveling to Berkeley for a game tomorrow against the dangerous Golden Bears, the wounded Trojans (21-1; 3-1 MPSF) sprinted out to a 6-1 lead at intermission and coasted to an 8-3 victory over Cal. Leading the way was Maud Megens, who returned to the USC line-up after a weekend in Europe, helping the Dutch national team to victory in the Europe cup. Megens notched two goals to pad her team-leading total to 54; more importantly, it’s clear her presence is a difference maker for Interim Head Coach Casey Moon’s squad. As it stands now, if the Trojans win out, they will almost certainly face UCLA in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. The Bruins and Trojans will face each other on April 20th in Spieker Aquatics Center; before that USC will host Arizona State in its penultimate MPSF regular season match this Saturday at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

USC Women's Water Polo defeats Princeton at home.

USC’s MPSF title hopes may rest on Maud Megens’ broad shoulders. Photo Courtesy: John McGillen/USC Athletics

If there is a dark horse for the national championship, it’s the Bruins. They may have dropped a decision to the top-ranked Cardinal last weekend, but UCLA (21-4; 4-1 MPSF) had a one-goal lead with a minute and a half remaining before Stanford rallied. That and the fact that Adam Wright’s defenders held the MPSF’s top-offensive team nine goals below their average. But, the Bruins could not stop Makenzie Fischer (5 goals in the game; 65 for the season), and it will be tough to beat the Cardinal in the MPSF Tournament; they’re hosting.

ucla But good news abounds in Westwood. Maddie Musselman is on the cusp of another 50+ goal season, and a young group of players—headlined by Ava Johnson, this week’s MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the week, and Val Ayala—are providing an offensive boost. Plus, the return to health of Lizette Rosenboom is a huge addition to Wright’s line-up; the senior scored 44 goals last season and has only 17 goals in nine matches so far in 2019. Imagine what she can do in the team’s most crucial stretch of the season.

If there’s questions about the resilience of USC due to the Trojans’ tumultuous mid-season coaching change, the state of mind for #4 Cal (13-5; 1-2 MPSF) is also subject to examination. Back-to-back defeats to Hawai’i and USC—part of a stretch of 3 losses in six matches—have put the Golden Bears’ national title hopes on life-support.

One match can change all that; the annual Big Splash contest against nemesis Stanford. Cal will host the match tomorrow, and there’s a couple of reasons for optimism in Berkeley. Emma Wright (41 goals) is delivering; Kitty Lynn Joustra is not (23 goals in 18 matches) but she’s been a hero for Cal against Stanford in the past (four goals in last year’s Big Aplash win, including the game winner if sudden death). Netminder Madison Tagg has had a strong senior campaign, and was spectacular last year with 16 saves in the win over the Cardinal. Cal head coach Coralie Simmons—a big game performer as a player for UCLA—will have her players well-prepared for this match. Before getting too excited, it must be pointed out that since that loss, Stanford has won the next three meetings between the two teams—by an average of 4+ goals.

It’s hard to know if #5 Hawai’i (15-5; 3-1 Big West) simply wasn’t ready for an emotional UC Irvine squad playing after the passing of Ted Newland, legendary UCI men’s coach, or the Anteaters simply have the Rainbow Wahine’s number. No matter what, the result is that Maureen Cole’s squad must regroup before the Big West Tournament—and #11 UC Santa Barbara might be the perfect tonic. Hawai’i will be playing the Gauchos Saturday under the lights at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex, and its senior night for Femke Aan, Carla Abellan, Irene Gonzalez and Elyse Lemay-Lavoie. This quartet has helped the Rainbow Wahine to a 71-29 record the last four season, and Gonzalez, the 2018 Big West Player of the Year, will finish her illustrious career third all-time on the Hawai’i scoring list.

[Passages: Ted Newland, Coach Emeritus of UC Irvine Men’s Water Polo, Passes Away at 91]

The #11 Gauchos (19-6; 2-1) have had a strong 2019 campaign but suffer from the same affliction as the Rainbow Wahine; beating UCI when it matters most (1-2 against the Anteaters in 2019).

UCI

Speaking of the Anteaters, on the strength of its 7-6 win over Hawai’i, Head Coach Dan Klatt’s squad moved up from eighth last week. More importantly, by winning out UCI (16-8; 3-1 Big West) will be the Big West Tournament’s top seed. The Anteaters have two road matches remaining before the Big West; a non-conference match tonight against UC San Diego and a match against conference foe Long Beach State. As happened last season, it looks like UCI is peaking at the right moment—and one imagines that Klatt, who played for Coach Newland, is invoking his mentor to rally his squad. That, and relying on Tara Prentice (60 goals), Mary Brooks (44 goals in 2019; 201 for her career) to deliver and goalie Morgan Jones—a hero of the big win over Hawai’i with 10 saves—to carry UCI through what’s increasingly looking like another trip to NCAAs.

Another potential dark horse for NCAAs success is #6 Michigan (18-8; 3-0 CWPA). Not that Head Coach Marcelo Leonardi’s squad is likley to advance into the finals, but last year the Wolverines were competitive against Cal in a 13-6 quaterfinal loss; if goalie Heidi Ritner comes up big at tournament time—which she’s certainly capable of—the Wolverines, with plenty of offense from the Johns(t)ons (Kim—25 goals and Maddie—28) plus Julie Sellers (48 goals) Abby Andrews (44) and Maddy Steere (42) may find their way into the Final Four. First, they have to get past CWPA foes; Michigan went 3-0 last weekend in Cambridge and have an opportunity to repeat this in Lewisburg this Saturday and Sunday.

Princeton, however, remains the fly in Leonardi’s championship ointment. The Tigers played the Wolverines tough in a 9-6 loss on Saturday, and are sure to be in the championship mix at the CWPA tournament, two weeks from now at Brown.

pacific With one match—a 13-7 victory over Loyola Marymount—the Tigers of #8 Pacific (11-8; 4-0 GCC) erased any doubt about their ability to capture a third-straight Golden Coast Conference title, and with it an NCAA berth. Brinnley Barthels (2 goals), Kyra Christmas and Viktoria Tamas all scored in a 4-0 burst in the first four minutes of the Lions’s match, and Head Coach James Grahams’ squad was never headed. This is not to say that a resilient LMU squad can’t challenge the Tigers come tournament time, but with three games remaining—tonight against #16 San Diego State, tomorrow against Concordia and next Saturday versus Santa Clara—it’s a good bet that Pacific will be the top seed when the 2019 GCC Tournament opens play on April 26th at Fresno State University

uc-davis-aggies At #9, the Aggies of UC Davis (16-10; 2-2) finally broke into the Top 10 for the first time this season, thanks to a recent four game win streak that including victories over #9 UC Santa Barbara, #12 Long Beach State and #15 Harvard. That winning burst was terminated last Sunday by UC Irvine, but the Aggies are hoping to start a new streak tomorrow against Big West foe, #23 California State University-Northridge (CSUN)—which will be promptly ended by Stanford, which hosts UCD next Friday

ASU

As the regular season winds down for Arizona State, the Sun Devils (12-9; 1-2 MPSF) will do their best to move past MPSF foe San Jose State. The Spartans are currently ranked 21st, but two weeks ago they won the head-to-head match-up between the two schools. With a match tomorrow in Los Angeles against USC, and another next Saturday in Berkeley against Cal, it’s unlikely that Todd Clapper’s squad can overcome their most immediate MPSF foe.

Looking ahead, ASU appears locked into the sixth-seed of the MPSF tournament bracket—likely to be either UCLA or USC—a considerable difference than facing Cal.

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