USC Water Polo - (Tag)

From Injury and Heartbreak to NCAA Champ: Meghan McAninch’s USC Comeback Honk! The final horn sounded. California’s last push had come up short. USC players were already sprinting toward each other in the water at UC San Diego. The 2026 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship belonged to The Women of.....

Editor’s Note: The 2019 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament is happening this week—and Swimming World has you covered! Keep up with all the action online or look for #SwimmingWorld on Twitter and other social media platforms. STANFORD, CA. A full day of action under ideal conditions in Stanford’s Ave...

“Operation Varsity Blues”—the massive federal indictment of college administrators, coaches, parents and advisors—has just claimed the biggest name in American collegiate water polo. According to a statement from USC, Jovan Vavic, the winningest water polo coach in the history of NCAA men's and wome...

Editor’s Note: Jovan Vavic, former USC head men’s and women’s water polo coach, will be arraigned today in federal court in Boston, MA on criminal racketeering charges, in connection with the massive Varsity Blues scandal that has rocked America’s higher education system. Vavic remains the biggest c...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor With conference tournament play underway this weekend, by Sunday night all eight berths in the 2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Tournament will be finalized; six automatic berths for conference winners and two at-large bids claimed by whichever of the Big Fo...

NCAA Water Polo’s Best Honored June 7 at The Olympic Club The 26th Annual Peter J. Cutino Awards—college water polo’s highest individual honor will be presented on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Named for legendary coach Peter J. Cutino, the award recognizes the top ma...

Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor At the conclusion of a hectic weekend of conference play, where all eight entrants to the 2017 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Tournament were decided, one thing stood out: change at the top of varsity polo is rare. Despite the inclusion of the University of the Pa...

Stanford, UCLA Advance to NCAA Men's Water Polo Semifinals Top-seeded UCLA demonstrated its offensive depth with a commanding 20-3 victory against Salem University in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships. Freshman attacker Ryder Dodd and graduate student Makoto Kenney spearheaded the Bru...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor After marching unopposed this season to 17 wins, on Saturday in Palo Alto USC ran into a determined Stanford squad, which claimed a 13-11 decision over the nation's top-ranked squad. The host Cardinal, which at one point enjoyed a five-goal advantage b...

LOS ANGELES, CA. In the aftermath of a scandal such as the one that has upended the water polo community at USC, attempts at restoring normalcy start with the strong familial bonds at the core of any successful program—and for the past two decades, Southern Cal has been among the best in that regard...

Editor's Note: For the first time in the 19-year history of the award, Swimming World covered the Cutino Awards, the most prestigious event in American water polo. Thanks to Gary Crooks, Athletic Director for The Olympic Club, which has hosted the Cutinos for almost two decades, we were able to have...

Adam Wright is one of America's best coaches, and his approach to his UCLA men’s and women’s teams, as well as the health of the sport in the U.S., is both frank and refreshing. Much has been written about his career playing for the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team—participating in three Olympics, an...

Day One of NCAA men’s varsity conference tournament play went almost entirely as expected, with a couple of upset wins and a few close calls by favored teams. In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), both Cal—the tournament’s number 3 seed—and UCLA, which is #4, advanced easily. After #5 Pe...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor In American intercollegiate athletics, there is perhaps no better brand than Stanford University. One of the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, the Cardinal—along with Pac-12 rival UCLA—boast the most titles (113) in the history ...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Last weekend the 2018 season for men’s water polo season started off with a bang! At the Bruno Classic, Harvard, #9 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Poll, upset #11 UC Davis, winning 15-14. It was a back-and-forth affair, punctuated by...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Editor’s Note: Last weekend, Swimming World spoke twice with Adam Wright, head coach for the men’s and women’s water polo teams at UCLA: the Friday before a 2017 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Tournament semifinal match against Pacific—an 11-9 win for the Bruin...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor The women’s water polo season is now in full tilt, as the last of the varsity programs will open play this weekend at the Mercyhurst Invitational in Erie, PA. There has been a great deal of action so far—including a big match last weekend at the Triton...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor PALO ALTO, CA. Three years after Johnny Hooper led his Santa Barbara “Polo Pals” to the 2015 18U title, the “Cozy Boys” of United Water Polo—another all-star team of friends made through various U.S. national team training programs—held on for a 9-7 wi...

LOS ANGELES, CA. As #2 Stanford and #1 Southern Cal prepare to clash today in the first home water polo match for the Trojan women since the massive Varsity Blues admissions scandal resulted in the firing of Jovan Vavic, USC’s long-time men’s and women’s head coach, the Trojans are not exactly takin...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Yesterday, The Olympic Club of San Francisco announced the 2017-2018 Cutino Award finalists. The female finalists are: Makenzie Fischer of Stanford; Paige Hauschild and Amanda Longan from USC. The male finalists, who were previously announced last Dece...