2014 Varsity Women Season Previews

The final matches of UCSB’s Winter Invite take place today and complete the third full weekend of women’s collegiate water polo for 2014. Most of the top ranked teams will have played at least once but many varsity squads are still shy of their first competition of the season.

USC unsurprisingly starts the season ranked on top with Stanford following closely behind. With some unexpected results already from contests in Santa Barbara there should be some early shifting in the polls this coming week.

Coverage of the upcoming season has been plentiful, though, with stories and video reports emerging throughout the country. Check some of them out here.

• Princeton’s media machine is working full time to capture the Tigers’ preseason, first with Coach Nicolao’s assessment of the upcoming season, and a feature on the team’s two captains.
• Up the Ivy League road, Harvard Coach Ted Minnis gets cornered in his office for a video season preview interview.
• The national champions from Los Angeles get a number one ranking both nationally and in the revamped MPSF. But their NorCal rivals from Stanford are barely behind, returning several key members of last year’s successful squad while looking to return to the top of the podium.
• UC Davis begins its “new look” season having lost some top talent to graduation but looks to spread the burden among its youthful roster. Regional rival Fresno Pacific slides in to the shiny new Golden Coast Conference with added depth.
• That new conference has made its internet presence felt quickly with a robust web site, and its coaches have spoken, predicting the Aztecs of San Diego State will win its inaugural championship. A preseason loss to its alumni aside, the team appears to welcome that assessment.
• Conference rivals Loyola Marymount call it a “new era” as coach Kyle Witt previews the season.
• Indiana will try to assert itself as the power of the Midwest in 2014 with only one key athlete lost to graduation. Coach King and a couple key members share their expectations with an IU student video reporter.
• UCLA returns some “seasoned starters” as they hope to improve on 2013’s third place finish. Down the 405 Freeway, improving Long Beach State hopes to continue to do so and earns its highest preseason ranking in nearly a decade.
• Slightly north, Cal State Northridge boasts a veteran returning roster and a coach beginning to make waves nationally. A slot in the eight-team national championship tournament is on their minds.
• Gannon earned a spot in the CWPA’s top ten preseason poll, the only Division II squad to do so.
• A bevy of redshirted talent returns to the UC Irvine roster this season. Coach Dan Klatt breaks down the upcoming season in an October 2013 video interview.
• Arizona State was one of the pleasant surprises of 2013 with its top five ranking and falling just short of a trip the the championship tournament. CBS in Phoenix covers the team as it prepares to open its 2014 season in Santa Barbara.
• SCIAC rivals Claremont Mudd Scripps and new member Chapman get their due as they try to grab their conference’s automatic NCAA bid.
• Increasingly cosmopolitan San Jose State eschews video and written copy for a hip preseason infographic.