The NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee announced Sunday the eight teams vying for the 2018 National Collegiate Men’s Water Polo Championship. The top two seeds have been placed in the bracket; the remaining six teams will compete for the last two berths in the bracket via four opening-round games, reports NCAA.
The opening-round games will be contested Nov. 24, hosted by Long Beach State and Princeton, and Nov. 29, hosted by Stanford, which will also host the championship to be held Dec. 1 and 2. The semifinal and championship games will be played at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford and streamed live on NCAA.com.
In the first opening-round game, Long Beach State (13-11) will host Pomona-Pitzer (23-8). The winner will advance to the third opening-round game to play UC San Diego (19-5), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Stanford (20-2) at Stanford. In the second opening-round game, Princeton (19-10) will host George Washington (22-6).
The winner will advance to the fourth opening-round game to play UCLA (22-4), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Southern California (28-3) at Stanford. Game times for the opening-round games are listed on the bracket. Game times for the semifinals are 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern time Dec. 1, and the championship game will be played at 6 p.m. Eastern time Dec. 2.
Conferences receiving automatic qualification included the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Northeast Water Polo Conference, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and the Western Water Polo Association. The remaining two teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions.
In 2017, UCLA defeated Southern California, 7-5 to capture its 11th national championship title.
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