USA Water Polo

Stanford Stays Atop Women's Varsity Top 20 As Season Opens

1/25/2012 12:00:00 AM

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Stanford University, University of Redlands, Indiana University and Grove City College remain on top of the rankings as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) released the Week 1/January 25 Women's Varsity National Top 20, Division III Top 10, CWPA Division I/II Top 10 and CWPA Division III Top Five Polls.

Due to limited action on the opening weekend of the season, the rankings underwent limited to moderate changes as the majority of ranked teams have not competed to date ini 2012.

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), Big West Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls are compiled and released on Wednesday during the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.

2012 Women's Varsity National Top 20

2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion Stanford University remains on top of the national water polo scene as the Cardinal garnered 100 points to remain a unanimous selection in the 2012 Women's Varsity Week 1/January 25 National Top 20 Poll.

The preseason No. 1, Stanford leads a Top 10 that saw radical changes following a weekend of limited competition.

The University of California (95 points) remains at No. 2, while the University of Southern California (USC) takes over sole command of the No. 3 position with 89 points after tying with the University of California-Los Angeles(UCLA) in the preseason rankings.

UCLA, which garnered 87 points in slipping to fourth place, is followed by San Jose State University (76 points) as the Top Five from the preseason rankings remained relatively unchanged in front of a No. 6-to-10 grouping that was shuffled in the wake of the games over the weekend.

Arizona State University (74 points) jumps to No. 6, with the University of California-Irvine (72 points) falling to No. 7.  San Diego State University (61 points) holds at No. 8, with Indiana University (58 points) and the University of Hawaii (56 points) exchanging the No. 9 and 10 spots, respectively.

Loyola Marymount University (52 points) hangs on at No. 11, with Hartwick College (47 points), University of Michigan (39 points),University of California-San Diego (30 points) and University of California-Davis (29 points) rating at No. 12-to-15, respectively.

Long Beach State University (28 points), University of California-Santa Barbara (19 points), Princeton University (18 points),California State University-Northridge (8 points) and Colorado State University (6 points) complete the Top 20, with the University of Maryland (4 points), Iona College (2 points), California Baptist University (2 points), University of the Pacific (1 point) and Santa Clara University (1 point) receiving votes.

2012 Women's Varsity Division III Top 10

Unlike the National Top 20, limited action did not overly impact the Women's Varsity Division III Top 10 as the University of Redlands, which captured the 2011 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title, retains the No. 1 ranking in the January 25/Week 1 voting.

Redlands, which picked up a vote since the preseason poll to increase its total to 95 points, concluded the 2011 season at No. 1 in the nation and will seek to repeat the feat in 2012.

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (93 points), Occidental College (92 points), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (87 points) and California Lutheran University (85 points) complete the Top Five, whileWhittier College (75 points), Chapman University (68 points), University of La Verne (63 points), Grove City College (63 points) andCarthage College (33 points) round out the Top 10 as the rankings remain unchanged from the preseason balloting.

Washington & Jefferson College (13 points) and Wheaton College (11 points) also received votes.

2012 Women's CWPA Division I/II Top 10

Following a 2-1 mark at the University of Michigan Kickoff Tournament,  defending Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Champion Indiana University remains on top of the Week 1/January 25 CWPA Division I/II Top 10 Poll.

The Hoosiers, who defeated the host Wolverines and Colorado State University and fell to the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), increased their total from the preseason poll by three points as Indiana picked up 99 points.

Overall, the order of the rankings remains mostly unchanged as Hartwick College (94 points) stays at No. 2.  Due to Michigan's loss to Indiana, the Wolverines drop out of a tie for third place from the preseason balloting as Princeton University (89 points) edges out the Maize & Blue (88 points) by a single point.

The University of Maryland (80 points), Harvard University (74 points), Bucknell University (70 points), Brown University (66 points),George Washington University (60 points) and Mercyhurst College (55 points) finish out the Top 10.

2012 Women's CWPA Division III Top 5

The top team in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Top 5 remains unchanged from the final poll of the 2011 season and the preseason voting as Grove City College garnered 100 points to rank as the unanimous No. 1 pick in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Week 1/January 25 Top Five Poll.

The 2010 and 2011 CWPA Division III champion, as the league's Division III members elected to philosophically separate from the Division I/II programs two seasons ago to contest their own championship, Grove City is striving for the program's third consecutive crown in 2012.

Carthage College (91 points), Wheaton College (90 points), Washington & Jefferson College (89 points) andMacalester College (80 points) complete the Top Five teams in the league.

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