USA Water Polo

USC Remains In Front Of Men's Top 20 Varsity Poll

9/14/2011 12:00:00 AM

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Southern California, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and the United States Naval Academy top the national rankings as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) released the 2011 Men's Varsity Week 2/September 14 National Top 20, Division III Top 10 and CWPA Top 10 Polls.

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

2011 Men's Varsity National Top 20

The University of Southern California continues its reign at No. 1 in the Week 2/September 14 Men's Varsity National Top 20 poll.

USC, which claimed the 2010 NCAA Championship with a 12-10 overtime victory against the University of California-Berkeley, garnered 99 points to remain on top of standings after previously ranking at No. 1 in the preseason balloting and last week.

The Top Five in the poll remain unchanged as California (96 points), University of California-Los Angeles (90 points), Stanford University (86 points), and University of the Pacific (78 points) retained their positions from the preseason and Week 1 polls.

Positions No. 6-to-10 experienced dramatic change as the University of California-Irvine (71 points) and Pepperdine University (71 points) moved up from ranking eighth and seventh, respectively, a week ago to take over at No. 6.  The University of California-Santa Barbara (66 points) slides back two spots to No. 8, while Long Beach State University (63 points) and Loyola Marymount University (56 points) held on at No. 9 and 10.

The University of California-Davis (47 points), University of California-San Diego (46 points) and Concordia University (38 points) remain at No. 11-13.  Princeton University (34 points), which knocked off Santa Clara University last week at home, jumps three places to No. 13 followed by theUnited States Naval Academy (29 points) at No. 15.

Santa Clara (23 points) falls into a tie with Bucknell University (23 points) at No. 16, while California Baptist University (17 points), St. Francis College (N.Y.) (13 points) and the United States Air Force Academy (8 points) complete the Top 20.

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, Brown University (4 points) and Harvard University each received one point to round out the other teams to receive votes in the rankings.

2011 Men's Varsity Division III Top 10

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, which ranked first in the Preseason Poll and was tied with the University of Redlands for the top spot last week, returns to sole possession of first place as the squad garnered 97 points to rate at No. 1 in the Week 2/September 14 Men's Varsity Division III National Top 10 poll.

Redlands (94 points) drops back to No. 2 this week, with Johns Hopkins University (89 points), Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (86 points) and California Lutheran University (78 points) remain at No. 3-5, respectively.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (77 points) moves up once place to No. 6,  Whittier College (71 points) slips to No. 7, Occidental College (61 points) and University of La Verne (60 points) inch up to No. 9 and 10, whileChapman University (51 points) slides to No. 10 to complete this week's Top 10.

Washington & Jefferson College (11 points) also received votes in this week's poll.

2011 Men's Varsity CWPA Top 10

The United States Naval Academy, which was ranked No. 1 a week ago, remains in the  the top position in the Week 2/September 14 Men's Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top 10 Poll.

Navy, which did not compete last week due to the Bucknell Invitational being rained out, holds a narrow two-point lead overBucknell University (94 points) and Princeton University (94 points).  The Bison, who were ranked No. 2 a week ago in the wake of a victory over St. Francis College at the Navy Labor Day Open, are joined by the Tigers in the runner-up position as Princeton improves from a No. 3 ranking in the Week 1 poll.

St. Francis remains at No. 4, while the tie between Johns Hopkins University (80 points) and Brown University (75 points) that existed at No. 5 last week is no more with the Blue Jays claiming sole possession of the No. 5 spot and Brown moving to No. 6.

Harvard University (67 points) remains at No. 7, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (64 points) jumps to No. 8, George Washington University (47 points) drops to No. 9 and Mercyhurst College (37 points) slips to No. 10 to complete the Top 10.

In addition, Iona College (24 points) and Fordham University (11 points) received votes but missed out on cracking the Top 10.

Collegiate