BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — To highlight little known details and facts in the sport of water polo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) will periodically on Fridays feature “Just the Facts”, a series detailing the hidden/lesser known history of the sport.
Champions/Coaches:
- Since the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship began in 2001, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) holds the most titles with seven (2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Stanford University (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) ranks second with five, while the University of Southern California (2004, 2010, 2013, 2016) comes in third with four crowns.
- Only five teams have made the NCAA Championship title game as Stanford (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) leads the way with 12 berths in 16 championships. UCLA (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015) is second with 10 with USC (2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016) coming in third with 8. Loyola Marymount Univeristy (2004) and the University of California (2011) have played for the championship once.
- 10 institutions have served as the site of the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship as Stanford (2001, 2004, 2008, 2015), USC (2002, 2014), the University of California-San Diego (2003), the University of Michigan (2004, 2011), the University of California-Davis (2005), Long Beach State University (2007), the University of Maryland (2009), San Diego State University (2010, 2012), Harvard University (2013) and the University of California-Los Angeles (2016) have performed the task.
- The highest official attendance for an NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship came in 2015 at Stanford as 4,095 fans were there at Stanford to see the host Cardinal defeat UCLA by a 7-6 score for the title. No official attendance was recorded by the NCAA for either the 2001 or the 2016 tournaments. Further, the lowest known attendance by the NCAA records was in 2013 at Harvard (898).
- 10 of the 16 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship title games were decided by one goal as solo markers were the difference in 2001 (UCLA 5, Stanford 4), 2003 (UCLA 4, Stanford 3), 2005 (UCLA 3, Stanford 2), 2006 (UCLA 9, USC 8), 2007 (UCLA 5, Stanford 4), 2009 (UCLA 5, USC 4), 2010 (USC 10, Stanford 9), 2013 (USC 10, Stanford 9 5OT), 2015 (Stanford 7, UCLA 6) and 2016 (USC 8, Stanford 7).
- The longest NCAA Women’s Water Polo title game came in 2013 at Harvard as USC downed Stanford by a 10-9 count in a five overtime game. No other NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship title game has advanced to overtime.
- The largest margin of victory in an NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship title game is four goals. It first occurred in 2002 at USC as Stanford topped UCLA by an 8-4 count. The margin repeated in 2011 at Michigan as Stanford topped California by a 9-5 count.
- Former UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian is the king of NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships as the current United States Women’s Senior National Team head coach holds six championships (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Stanford’s John Tanner is just off the pace with five titles (2002, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015), while USC’s Jovan Vavic has four NCAA Championship trophies (2004, 2010, 2013, 2016).
All Tournament Teams/Leading Scorer:
- Over the course of the 16 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships, 13 players have been named Most Outstanding Player:
- Coralie Simmons (UCLA) – 2001
- Jackie Frank (Stanford) – 2002
- Robin Beauregard (UCLA) – 2003
- Brittany Hayes (USC) – 2004
- Natalie Golda (UCLA) – 2005
- Kelly Rulon (UCLA) – 2006, 2007
- Tanya Gandy (UCLA) – 2008, 2009
- Kami Craig (USC) – 2010
- Annika Dries (Stanford) – 2011, 2014
- Kate Baldoni (Stanford) – 2012
- Flora Bolonyai (USC) – 2013
- Maggie Steffens (Stanford) – 2015
- Stephania Haralabidis (USC) – 2016
- A total of 17 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) studneet-athletes have earned spots on the All-Tournament Team since 2001:
- 2001 – None
- 2002 – Betsey Armstrong, Jen Crisman (Michigan) – Second Team
- 2003 – Krista Peterson (Indiana University) – First Team; Kristin Stanford (Indiana University) – Second Team
- 2004 – Kate Chambers (Hartwick College) – Second Team
- 2005 – Sheetal Narsai (Michigan) – Second Team
- 2006 – Bronwen Knox (Hartwick) – Second Team
- 2007 – Kirsten Hudson (Hartwick) – Second Team
- 2008 – Leah Robertson (Michigan) – Second Team
- 2009 – Leah Robertson (Michigan) – First Team
- 2010 – Leah Robertson (Michigan) – Second Team
- 2011 – Jakie Kohli (Indiana) – Second Team
- 2012 – Katie Rigler (Princeton University) – Second Team
- 2013 – Katie Rigler (Princeton) – Second Team
- 2014 – Candyce Schroeder (Indiana) – Second Team
- 2015 – Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton) – Second Team
- 2016 – Ali Thomason (Michigan) – First Team; Kim Johnson (Michigan) – Second Team
- Since 2001, the high-scoring mark at the NCAA Championship has grown from four (2001) and three (2003) goals to a high of 15 (2009):
- 2001 – Kelly Heuchen (UCLA) – 4
- 2002 – Brenda Villa (Stanford) – 5
- 2003 – Lauren Boreta (Stanford), Katie Hicks (Loyola Marymount University), Jessica Lopez (UCLA), Hannah Luber (Stanford), Kelly Rulon (UCLA) – 3
- 2004 – Brittany Hayes (USC), Stacia Peterson (Loyola Marymount) – 5
- 2005 – Stacia Peterson (Loyla Marymount) – 10
- 2006 – Kelly Rulon (UCLA) – 11
- 2007 – Billy Hoelck (Wagner) – 11
- 2008 – Jenna Schuster (San Diego State University) – 7
- 2009 – Lauren Silver (Stanford) – 15
- 2010 – KK Clark (UCLA), Patricia Lancso (USC), Lauren Orth (Michigan), Samantha Swartz (Marist) – 8
- 2011 – Jakie Kohli (Indiana) – 10
- 2012 – Alexandra Honny (Loyola Marymount) – 11
- 2013 – Sarah Lizotte (UC-San Diego) – 9
- 2014 – Alexis Wheeler (UC-San Diego) – 10
- 2015 – Dora Antal (California), Mary Brooks (University of California-Irvine), Kiley Neushul (Stanford) – 9
- 2016 – Stephania Haralabidis (USC) – 8
Individual/Team Records:
- Lauren Silver of Stanford holds the single game (8 vs. Hawaii, 14-11 W in 2009 at Maryland), goals per game in a tournament (5.0, 15 in three games), goals per tournament (15 in 2009) and career goals (30, 2006-2007-2008-2009, 12 games) records.
- Sarah Lizotte of UC-San Diego holds the NCAA Championship record for career goals per game at 2.89 as she scored 26 in nine games during the 2011, 2013 and 2014 tournaments.
- Princeton’s Ashleigh Johnson is the queen of the cage as she holds the single game saves (22, 6-5 L vs. UC-Irvine in 2015 at Stanford), tournament saves per game (16.6, 50 saves in three games, 2015 at Stanford) and tournament saves (50, 2015 at Stanford).
- USC holds the record for most goals scored in a single game with 27 achieving the mark twice in 2006 at UC-Davis versus Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (27-2 W) and again in 2013 at Harvard against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (27-1 W).
- Stanford and Wagner combined for the highest scoring game in NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship history as the teams combined for 33 goals (Stanford 25, Wagner 8) in 2007 at Long Beach State.
- USC achieved the records for most goals (53) and goals per game (17.67) in 2013 at Harvard.
- Princeton holds the record for most saves in a single NCAA Women’s Water Polo tournament game with 22 in a 6-5 loss to UC-Irvine in 2015 at Stanford. Further, the team also holds the mark for most saves per game in a tournament with 16.6 (50 saves in three games) and total saves (50) also achieved in 2015.
- Among CWPA institutions, Brown (0-2 in 2001), Hartwick (3-5 in 2004, 2006, 2007), Indiana (2-6 in 2003, 2011, 2014), Michigan (6-11 in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013) and Princeton (4-5 in 2012, 2013, 2015) have combined for a 15-29 record in NCAA tournament play.
- Brown (2001), Indiana (2003), Hartwick (2004) and Michigan (2016) hold the league record for highest finish with Fourth Place marks. Note: the 2001, 2003 and 2004 tournaments were four team championships, while the 2016 event was a 10 team event. Starting in 2017, the NCAA Championship will no longer contest the Third, Fifth and Seventh Place games as the losing teams from the semifinals will officially finish in a tie for Third, while the teams that lose prior to the semifinals will conclude the tournament in a tie for Fifth Place.
The complete records of the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship through the 2016 season are available by CLICKING HERE.
