USC Water Polo - (Tag)

From Injury and Heartbreak to NCAA Champ: Meghan McAninch’s USC Comeback Honk! The final horn sounded. California’s last push had come up short. USC players were already sprinting toward each other in the water at UC San Diego. The 2026 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship belonged to The Women of.....

Ryann Neushul and Ryder Dodd Win 2025 Peter J. Cutino Awards for NCAA Water Polo Excellence On a warm June evening in the heart of San Francisco, The Olympic Club once again played host to the 26th Annual Peter J. Cutino Awards, honoring the outstanding female and male collegiate water polo players....

By Michael Randazzo. Swimming World Contributor On Sunday, the NCAA men’s varsity water polo season came to a close as USC jumped out to a huge lead then held on for a 14-12 national title win over Stanford at Avery Aquatic Center. It was a fitting end to the NCAA’s fiftieth national championship to...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor The women’s water polo season is now in full tilt, as the last of the varsity programs will open play this weekend at the Mercyhurst Invitational in Erie, PA. There has been a great deal of action so far—including a big match last weekend at the Triton...

With major tournaments being played almost every weekend, February is the busiest month in the NCAA varsity women’s water polo season. There are noteworthy match-ups all over the country, as teams look to sharpen skills for their respective conference seasons, which typically begin play in March. In...

Editor’s Note: Jovan Vavic, former USC head men’s and women’s water polo coach, will be arraigned today in federal court in Boston, MA on criminal racketeering charges, in connection with the massive Varsity Blues scandal that has rocked America’s higher education system. Vavic remains the biggest c...

By Steven Munatones, Swimming World Special Contributor Editor’s Note: Steven Munatones is the founder of the World Open Water Swimming Association and the Daily News of Open Water Swimming. Munatones' son Skyler is a junior playing for the UC San Diego men's water polo team. While UCLA (11 NCAA tit...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Water polo is often cited as the most contentious of sports—and that physical intensity was on full display in Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship final in the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. #1 USC and #2 Stanford were locked in a battle so heated...

STANFORD, CA. Last weekend saw brilliant action at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament. For the first time in the almost two-decade history of the women’s national championship, both semifinals went to overtime, with USC overcoming Cal 10-8 and Stanford surviving a scare from UCLA to prevail...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor LOS ANGELES, CA. It seems hard to believe that scoring sensation Kimberly Watson will be leaving the Wagner Women’s Water Polo Team at the end of this season. Four years ago the Pointe-Claire, Quebec native arrived in Staten Island as an untested fresh...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Day One at the 2018 Mountain Pacific Invitational saw only one upset—Pepperdine, seeded #10, dispatched seventh-seeded UC San Diego by a score of 10-9—and many impressive individual performances. Cal’s Johnny Hooper is making up for time lost while pla...

The most prestigious—and likely most significant—non-conference tournament of the 2019 NCAA women’s varsity season begins today at UC Irvine. The Barbara Kalbus invitational, now in it’s 13th year, opened with top seed USC facing San Diego State followed by #2 seed Stanford against California State ...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor IRVINE, CA – After a series of contests this Sunday between the nation’s top women’s water polo teams, one program remains head and shoulders above the rest. #1 Stanford—now a stellar 11-0 in this young season—pummeled previously undefeated #3 USC by 9...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor The Barbara Kalbus Invitational represents a pivot point in the women’s water polo season, as the top teams compete in tournament play before embarking on their respective conference schedules. Featuring 16 ranked teams—including nine of the nation’s t...

For the 2019 Pete Cutino Awards presentation—given annually to the country's top male and female collegiate water polo athletes—there was a pronounced change; the event was broadcast live for the first time. Saturday night at The Olympic Club in downtown San Francisco, Greg Mescall, USA Water Polo D...

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor If the old saying that adversity builds character holds true, then the California Golden Bears and the Hawks of Hartwick possess it in ample supply. Last Sunday, on a goal by freshman Kitty Lynn Joustra with 30 seconds left in regulation, visiting Cal ...

In their first real test of the 2019 season, on Saturday in Irvine, CA the USC women’s water polo team held on for a 9-8 victory against #4 Cal, advancing to the finals of the annual Barbara Kalbus Invitational, where they will meet second-seeded Stanford at 1 p.m. today at the UC Irvine Aquatics Ce...

As is often the case, the Barbara Kalbus Invitational Tournament on the UC Irvine campus is an opportunity for a re-ordering of the nation’s top teams, and the 2019 version did not disappoint. USC and Stanford—which faced off in last Sunday’s Kalbus final—remain first and second in the most recent C...

It's the last weekend of regular season play for women’s NCAA varsity polo—and the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top-Ten may not change, but seeding for the eight conferences that send teams to the NCAA tournament will be decided by Sunday night. Top-ranked Stanford (17-1; 5-0 MPSF) held ...

Stanford, UCLA Advance to NCAA Men's Water Polo Semifinals Top-seeded UCLA demonstrated its offensive depth with a commanding 20-3 victory against Salem University in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships. Freshman attacker Ryder Dodd and graduate student Makoto Kenney spearheaded the Bru...