Schedule Unveiled

STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford men's water polo program has unveiled its 2018 schedule, highlighted by 12 regular-season home matches.
 
Included in the Cardinal's outstanding home slate is the prestigious Mountain Pacific Invitational, as Stanford will play four matches against the nation's top programs during the three-day tournament during the last weekend of September. Stanford will also play host to the NCAA Championships Dec. 1-2, marking the sixth time since Avery Aquatic Center opened in its current form in 2001 it will host the national championship event.  
 
The Cardinal opens the season in Santa Clara with matchups against San Jose State and Santa Clara Sept. 1, before competing in an early-season tournament on the east coast for the third time in the last four seasons. Following trips to the New England area in its previous east coast stops, Stanford will head to New Jersey this fall to compete in the Princeton Invitational during the second weekend in September.
 
The Cardinal will play seven of its first eight matches on the road in all, also traveling to UCSB and Pepperdine. The home opener for the Cardinal is Sept. 29 against Santa Clara.
 
From there, Stanford will play just two matches away from The Farm the remainder of the regular season.
 
The Cardinal will host 11 consecutive matches beginning Sept. 29 and spanning the entire month of October. Its lone conference home match will be Saturday, Oct. 6 against USC in a contest that will air on Pac-12 Networks. Outside of its four matches against the nation's top programs in the Mountain Pacific Invitational, Stanford will face six teams that finished in the top-11 of the 2017 Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings during the homestand, including No. 2 USC, No. 5 Pacific, No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 8 UC Davis and No. 11 San Jose State.
 
The regular season concludes with a pair of road MPSF contests at defending NCAA Champion UCLA (Nov. 3) and at California (Nov. 10). Pac-12 Networks will televise the match against the Golden Bears.
 
The 2018 MSPF Championship, which now includes Stanford, USC, UCLA, California, Penn State Behrend and Austin College, will take place at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center Nov. 16-18.
 
The four-team NCAA Championship returns to Avery Aquatic Center this December for the first time since 2008. Stanford has also played host to the NCAA Championship in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 at its current facility.

2018 Schedule