STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford, the only women's water polo that has competed at every NCAA Championship since its inception in 2001, will make its 17th straight appearance in 2017. The Cardinal earned an at-large berth to the field when the NCAA Women's Water Polo Committee announced the bracket on Monday evening.
Ten teams will be vying for the 2017 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship. The top six teams have been placed in the bracket; the remaining four teams will compete for the last two berths in the bracket via two opening-round games.
The opening-round games will be conducted Saturday, May 6 at campus sites. The winners will advance to the championship, which will be held May 12-14 at IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis with Indiana and the Indiana Sports Corp. serving as hosts. The 2017 championship will be an eight-team, single-elimination tournament (seven games).
The Cardinal will begin its tournament on Friday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT against the winner of Pacific (20-8) and Pomona-Pitzer (17-18). Those two teams will meet at Chris Kjeldsen Pool in Stockton this Saturday.
Stanford will be looking for its fifth national championship in the past seven seasons and sixth in program history. The Cardinal has advanced to the title game each of the past seven years, winning it all in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Stanford, 20-3 overall this season, has accumulated a record of 202-21 (.906) since 2010.
In the other opening-round game, UC San Diego (19-14) will host Wagner (25-10). That winner will be placed in the championship bracket to play top-seeded UCLA (22-1) on May 12 at noon ET. Rounding out the bracket in Indianapolis will be No. 4 UC Irvine (23-6) facing California (15-9) at 1:45 p.m. ET and No. 3 Southern California (28-3) competing against Michigan (28-8) at 5:15 p.m. ET.
