By SWIMMING WORLD — Favored to both to win its conference and repeat as NCAA champions, the Stanford Cardinal traveled to Irvine for the UCI Invitational Tournament where they were beaten thoroughly by the USC Trojans on Sunday. That story and all the other major collegiate happenings are covered in this week’s Water Polo Wednesday feature in Swimming World. In an “epic” matchup:
…[t]he second-ranked USC Trojans captured the championship with an upset victory over the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal, 13-10. Anni Espar scored four times for the Trojans, with Monica Vavic and Hannah Buckling contributing three each. Maggie Steffens was the leading Cardinal scorer with three goals. Goalie Flora Bolonyai saved nine shots for the Trojans, including a key 5-meter penalty stop in the fourth period.
Other highlights include the Fluid Four competition at the University of Indiana where Long Beach State beat the host Hoosiers 7-4, and Princeton’s 4-0 run at the CWPA/MAAC Crossover, hosted by Villanova.
COLLEGIATE WATER POLO ASSOCIATION — Week six of the women’s varsity collegiate season ended with Stanford toppled from its top position by the Trojans of USC according to the Collegiate Water Polo Association poll released today.
…the Top 10 experienced a major shift following USC’s 13-10 victory over Stanford and the other results from the University of California-Irvine Invitational as only two teams in the upper half of the Top 20 retained their positions in the Week 6 balloting.
Behind USC, Stanford (96 points) drops to No. 2 with UCLA (90 points) holding firm at No. 3 for another week. Arizona State University (85 points), which knocked off the University of California (81 points) 8-7 at the UC-Irvine Invite, surpasses the Golden Bears for the No. 4 position. California slides to No. 5, while San Diego State (75 points) and UC-Irvine (70 points) exchange the No. 6 and 7 spots.
Pomona-Pitzer remains atop the Division III poll, and Indiana is number one in the CWPA.
