CWPA Top 20 Week Three: The MPSF Invitational is at Cal; Who Can Stop Stanford?
There’s really nothing like the MPSF Men’s Water Polo Invitational in all of college sports (unless you consider the UCI Invite—also known as the Barbara Kalbus Tournament—where the nation’s top women’s teams duke it out). With twelve of the nation’s top teams—and nine of the top-10—gathering at Cal-Berkley’s campus for an early season winner-take-all tournament.
[2021 MPSF Invitational Tournament Central]
Imagine the SEC doing this in football? Or NCAA men’s baseball / women’s softball (where they play a bunch of games on a weekend) devoting an entire weekend to a tournament of the best against the best?
This tournament—with seeding decided by the CWPA Top-20—is one of the great events in American collegiate water polo, a positive attribute of its small footprint. Everybody plays each other, and—despite current dominance by Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC (38-0 as of today)—almost every one of the nation’s varsity programs has a shot (however unrealistic) at an upset.
Stanford has captured the past two MPSF Invites; who this weekend will stop John Vargas’ squad from a third-straight title?
1) UCLA (9-0); The Bruins deserve the recognition as the nation’s top-ranked team. They’ve already played—and beaten twice—#5 UC-Santa Barbara. UCLA’s latest win over the Gaucho stretches their dominance over three decades and 50 straight victories (107-17-1 all-time series record). Given their lofty stature, the Bruins received a bye into today, where they will face Pacific, a winner over Pepperdine on Friday.
2) USC (7-0); Three more early-season victories for the Trojans—in more competitive matches than the first two weeks—but still no Vavic sightings. Wins over ranked opponents San Jose State, Santa Clara and UC-Davis saw a milestone by Jacob Mercep—with 176 goals he’s now # 6 all-time for USC — achieved during a 13-7 win over the Aggies—coached by none other than former Trojan Daniel Leyson, who Mercep passed on the USC career scoring list. Like the Bruins, the Trojans got an opening day bye and will again face Leyson and UC-Davis—likely without Marko and Stefan—after an Aggie win over UC San Diego yesterday.
3) (T) Stanford (11-0); The Cardinal returned home from a dominant East Coast swing a bit jet lagged—or maybe it was the tougher competition. They eked out a 11-9 win over Pepperdine last Saturday and then had to go to OT to finish off Long Beach State on Wednesday. Not to worry; they beat an inconsistent Loyola Marymount squad Friday in their first round MPSF match-up. Up today: a dangerous UC-Santa Barbara squad, which beat UC Irvine on Friday.
3) (T) California (11-0); Now that the Golden Bears are at full-strength, they will be a dark horse favorite to win the MPSF Invite that they are hosting. Which, will not be a surprise; tagging UC-Davis with their first loss of the season last weekend at the Aggie Invite—as well as wins against Cal Baptist, Pacific and San Jose State—suggest that Head Coach Kirk Everist’s side are rounding into form. Is it enough to knock off UCLA or USC? After beating Pomona Pitzer Friday they advance to face Long Beach State, a winner over San Jose State today.
With last Saturday’s win over the Spartans, Everist achieved a significant milestone: 400 wins with Cal. He trails only the immortal Pete Cutino (519 victories) on the Golden Bears’ all-time polo wins list.
5) UC-Santa Barbara (12-2); It was UCLA that ended the Gaucho’s historic unbeaten start to the 2019 season—one that saw them claim the top spot for the first time in the two decade existence of the CWPA poll—and it’s the Bruins who have tagged UCSB with its only two losses this season. There will be ample opportunity for revenge this weekend; first Head Coach Wolf Wigo’s squad had to beat UCI. That propelled the Gauchos into a match today against Stanford—Sawyer Rhodes’ (40 goals in 14 games) FIRST team.
6) Long Beach State (9-2); Last week Head Coach Gavin Arroyo’s team was one of six unbeaten squads; after losses to UCLA and Stanford, they were riding a two-match losing streak. A rebound came in the form of San Jose State—though just barely. A 10-8 win Friday over the Spartans puts them in a tough match-up against host Cal.
7) UC-Davis (8-2); The Aggies were the other unbeaten to fall from the ranks, suffering a narrow loss to Cal and a single digit defeat to USC. They rebounded against UC-San Diego Friday, securing a 13-12 victory in sudden death thanks to a golden goal from Spencer Trowill. This early season contest between the WWPA’s top teams could be an indication of how things will play out by season’s end. By virtue of Friday’s win, the Aggies get a rematch against USC on Saturday.
[Towill Tips Tritons in Sudden Victory]
8) Pacific (4-4); It’s possible Tigers Head Coach James Graham has a probability curve somewhere that predicts exactly what it will take for his team to get back to NCAAs—and I bet that doesn’t include early-season, non-conference losses. This doesn’t mean the Tigers don’t play for pride; except for an 11-6 setback to host UC-Davis last weekend, all Pacific’s losses—including two to Cal—have been predictable. They faced GCC rival Pepperdine Friday in a non-conference match-up. The 20-15 win over the Waves was a good sign for Graham and his Tigers. Next up, a match with UCLA.
9 (T) UC-San Diego (7-3); Last weekend was mixed for Head Coach Denny Harper’s Tritons; a blowout win over Biola, a tough loss to UC-Santa Barbara and a nail-bitter against Loyola Marymount—decided by a Vedran Latkovic goal with 15 seconds remaining, giving UCSD the win. Yesterday they battled WWPA rival UC-Davis to the last second; the loss puts them in the loser’s draw today against Loyola Marymount, another conference rival.
Princeton’s Yurian Quinones last week at LMU. Photo: Nicole Maloney
9 (T) Princeton (10-2); The Tigers are the only team in the top 10 not going to the MPSF Invite. It’s not like they haven’t been before; in 2019 they traveled West for the NorCal Tournament (as the MPSF Invite is sometimes known). This year, Princeton will travel to California in two separate trips; they completed the first one last weekend in spectacular fashion, sweeping three ranked opponents: Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and UC-Irvine. There’s no denying that this was an exceptional result for Tiger Head Coach Dusty Litvak and his talented squad—one which should put the rest of the East on notice as to who may advance from this coast for the 2021 NCAA men’s championship. Perhaps most significant of the three wins was a gutty 11-10 win over Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles after a cross-country excursion the day before.
11 (T) San Jose State (4-8); As the saying goes, looks can be deceiving. The Spartans have lost by seven goals to #3 Cal, by nine to #3 Stanford, by seven to #1 USC and yesterday by two goals to #6 Long Beach State. Their other losses have been between one and three goals—and all the defeats have come at the hand of teams ranked higher. Head Coach Bruce Watson’s squad pushed Pacific to OT before losing, pushed UC-Davis to OT for dropping the decision and lost by two to Cal last weekend. Despite playing tough against the 49ers, Friday’s loss pits them against Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday.
12) Pepperdine (5-6); This is NOT what the Wave faithful envisioned when they saw the CWPA preseason poll that had Pepperdine as the nation’s #5 team. Now, they’ve dropped as low as #12—and after a loss to Pacific on Friday, could drop lower. Losing to a Princeton squad at home for the first time ever (only three meetings) but at home… one imagines that Head Coach Terry Schroeder has been pushing his team hard in practice but the results just aren’t there… yet.
13) UC-Irvine (5-3); The luster of a fast start has been dimmed somewhat by the overtime loss to Princeton last weekend and an 15-8 loss to UCSB on Friday in the first day of MPSF Invite play. Now comes an inflection point for Head Coach Marc Hunt’s team; can they beat GCC rival UC San Diego in Saturday’s loser’s bracket—and climb higher in the Invitational standings? Or, is this the start of a slide for the Ant Eaters, who have matches against USC and Cal in the coming weeks?
14) Santa Clara (6-4); after a 19-7 win Friday against Biola (which in its first year has a lone win against Westcliff and six losses, mostly by double digits), the Broncos take a break until the Gary Troyer Tournament next weekend—where they will again face teams from outside California. This is a good thing for Head Coach Keith Wilbur side; with four wins already in 2021, Santa Clara has now captured 21 wins the past three+ seasons against teams outside the West—more than half of the team’s total of 40.
15) Harvard (8-1); After an unexpected loss to Fordham on their first day of the season, the Crimson have reeled off seven-straight wins, mostly against unranked opponents. They have a home match Sunday against Air Force (9-1), flying high after an 11-7 win in Annapolis against Navy. Then comes their epic conference weekend, where Head Coach Ted Minnis packs his players in a bus (the kind that plays movies—so it’s not that bad!) and drives down the coast to Iona, Princeton and St. Francis. Some might suspect this used to be a hell trip for Harvard; the past two years they’ve emerged unscathed; no surprise as the Crimson have become as the East’s most consistent team. This will likely be challenged on October 2, the first leg of the trip when Harvard faces red-hot Princeton at DeNunzio Pool.
16) Fordham (8-3; 2-0 MAWPC); If there ever was a season for the Rams to capture their first-ever NCAA berth, this would appear to be it. With a young, talented and deep roster, Head Coach Brian Bacharach has the raw material to challenge Bucknell’s superiority for top spot in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC). With a four-match sweep at the Bucknell Invitational last weekend—including a huge 13-9 win over the host Bison—Fordham is sitting atop the MAWCPC. To keep it up, they must fend off Navy on Sunday in the Bronx; not only would this put the Rams at 3-0 in the conference, they’ll have beaten the #1 and #2 teams in MAWPC.
17) Loyola Marymount (2-6); In the WWPA conference previews, the Lions looked like–well kings of the wild. A very big roster, proven scorers; why couldn’t Head Coach John Loughran’s squad push for a title? So far, success has proven elusive. This is what happens when half of your matches are against Top-10 opponents. A 13-8 loss yesterday to Stanford sent the Lions packing to Cal’s Legends Aquatic Center, where they’ll face UC San Diego, ranked #9.
18) Pomona-Pitzer (6-4); Following a couple of years where Whittier and Claremont Mudd Scripps ruled SCIAC play, it feels like the Sage Hens are back where they belong as the country’s top DIII program. Look no further for validation of this than PP inclusion in the MPSF Invite. Sure, they got spanked by host Cal 21-7 on Friday, but what’s that line from Hamilton? You want to be in the room (or in this case, the pool) where it happens. Today Head Coach Alex Rodriguez faces his former coach Terry Schroeder and the Waves; A-Rod was a member of the 1997 Pepperdine squad that is the last non-Pac12 team to win a national championship.
19) Cal Baptist (3-8); The Lancers are another team like San Jose State; their performance this season is better than their record. Five of those eight loses are to top-10 teams, including a one-goal loss to Pacific last Saturday, a two-goal loss to Pepperdine and a remarkable loss by two to UCLA., where CBU rallied late for four-straight goals to put scare into the mighty Bruins.
20) United States Naval Academy (4-4); After Thursday’s loss to Air Force it seems likely Navy will drop out of the Top 20. And, with matches against Princeton and Wagner today and a surging Fordham program on Sunday, it’s pretty certain the Mids will travel to next weekend’s Gary Troyer Tournament in California with a losing record—NOT what Head Coach Luis Nicolao expected this season.
But, there’s a lot of polo yet to play.