2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Championship Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Water Polo Committee announced today the nine teams vying for the 2022 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship. Seven teams have been placed in the bracket; the remaining two teams will compete for the last berth in the bracket via an opening-round game.
The opening-round game will be contested May 4, hosted by the University of Michigan, which will also host the championship to be held on May 6-8. The opening round game, semifinal and championship games will be played at the Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor. The 2022 championship will be an eight-team, single-elimination tournament.
In the opening-round game, Wagner College (34-3) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) will play Salem University (18-15) of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) at Michigan. The winner will advance to the championship bracket to play Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Champion Stanford University (22-2) in Game 1. Rounding out the bracket will be MPSF Fourth Place finisher the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) (22-5) taking on Big West Conference Champion the University of California-Irvine (22-6) in Game 2, MPSF runner-up the University of Southern California (18-3) competing against Golden Coast Conference Champion Fresno State University (19-7) in Game 3 and MPSF Third Place finisher the University California (16-5) facing host/Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion Michigan (26-8) in Game 4.
Conferences receiving automatic qualification included the Big West Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Western Water Polo Association. The remaining three teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions.
The first round and semifinal games will be streamed on NCAA.com. The national championship will take place at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, May 8 on ESPNU.
