USC Takes Over Top Spot In Women's Varsity Poll

Feb. 27, 2013

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- On the heels of a victory over former No. 1 Stanford University, the University of Southern California climbs to the top spot in the Week 6/February 27 Women's Varsity National Top 20 Poll as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the  National Top 20, Division III Top 10, CWPA Division I/II Top 10 and CWPA Division III Top Five.

Unlike the National Top 20 which experienced its first change at the top spot this season, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Division III Top 10), Indiana University (CWPA Division I/II Top 10) and Grove City College(CWPA Division III Top Five) continue at No. 1 in their respective polls for another week.

Voted on by a panel of coaches from the CWPA, Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), Big West Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls are compiled and released on Wednesday during the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.

2013 Women's Varsity National Top 20

The reign of the Stanford University Cardinal at No. 1 of the 2011 and 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) National Champions ends this week as the University of Southern California garnered 100 points to take over the top spot in the 2013 Week 6/February 27 Women's Varsity National Top 20 Poll.

It marks the first time USC has topped the National Top 20 since the conclusion of the 2010 season, while it also rates as the inaugural time in nearly a year that Stanford does not rank as the No. 1 team in the nation

The last team to hold the No. 1 ranking other than the Cardinal was theUniversity of California-Los Angeles which topped the May 2, 2012 poll entering the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship tournament at San Diego State University.

Overall, the Top 10 experienced a major shift following USC's 13-10 victory over Stanford and the other results from the University of California-Irvine Invitational as only two teams in the upper half of the Top 20 retained their positions in the Week 6 balloting.

Behind USC, Stanford (96 points) drops to No. 2 with UCLA (90 points) holding firm at No. 3 for another week. Arizona State University (85 points), which knocked off the University of California (81 points) 8-7 at the UC-Irvine Invite, surpasses the Golden Bears for the No. 4 position. California slides to No. 5, while San Diego State (75 points) and UC-Irvine (70 points) exchange the No. 6 and 7 spots.

The University of Hawaii (65 points) stays at No. 8, with Long Beach State University (58 points) inching up to No. 9 and the duo of Indiana University (48 points) and San Jose State University (48 points) moving into a tie at No. 10.

In the final 10 spots of the Top 20, Princeton University (46 points) hangs on at No. 12, while Loyola Marymount University (45 points) leaps two positions to No. 14 after ranking at No. 16 last week.

Due to LMU's ascension, the University of California-Davis (35 points) drops to No. 14 and California State University-Northridge (28 points) descends into a tie with the University of California-Santa Barbara (28 points) at No. 15.

The University of California-San Diego (17 points) stays at No. 17 for another week, but the final three positions in the Top 20 remain in flux as the University of Michigan (13 points) and Hartwick College (13 points) both rise to tie at No. 18.

The final position in the Top 20 belongs to the University of the Pacific (11 points) which drops two positions from holding the No. 18 berth last week.

Overall, the Week 6/February 27 poll marks the most changes in the Top 20 this season as only six teams retained their rankings from the Week 5/February 20 voting.

 

2013 Women's Varsity Division III Top 10

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges , which captured the 2012 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title, remains the best small college program in the nation as the Sagehens garnered 99 points to retain the No. 1 ranking in the Week 6/February 27 Women's Varsity Division III Top 10.

The Sagehens lead holds at three points over runner-up Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (96 points) as the distance between the two top programs remained constant for the first time during the 2013 season.

Overall, the ranking of the Top 10 teams remains unchanged from the Week 5/February 20 voting as California Lutheran University (88 points), the University of Redlands (82 points) and Occidental College (81 points) hold at No. 3-to-5, respectively.

Whittier College (73 points), University of La Verne (71 points) and Grove City College (63 points) joinChapman University (55 points) and Washington & Jefferson College (34 points) in rounding out the Top 10.

The biggest change of the week comes in the teams receiving votes as Carthage College (22 points) is joined by Connecticut College (11 points).

 

2013 Women's CWPA Division I/II Top 10

The Week 6/February 27 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division I/II Top 10 Poll follows the same pattern as last week - a near dead heat at the top of the standings - as Indiana University (94 points) holds onto the top position by a single point over bothPrinceton University (93 points) and the University of Michigan (93 points).

In an argument based on degrees of separation, the Top Four positions in the Top 10 are virtually a dead heat with only a four point spread between Indiana, Princeton, Michigan and Hartwick College (90 points).

The argument for the top spot can be made for any of the four as the Hoosiers are 2-1 against the opposing trio (9-6 W vs. Hartwick, 8-7 L vs. Hartwick, 4-2 W vs. Princeton), Princeton is 1-1 (7-6 W vs. Hartwick, 4-2 L vs. Indiana) and Hartwick is 1-2 (9-6 L vs. Indiana, 8-7 W vs. Indiana, 7-6 L vs. Princeton).

Michigan is the odd team out in the mix as the Wolverines have faced neither the Hoosiers, Tigers or Hawks to date, yet all four teams received at least one first place vote in this week's balloting.

The ranking does put the CWPA Division I/II poll back into near agreement with the National Top 20 as the standing of Indiana (No. 10), Princeton (No. 12), Michigan (No. 18-T) and Hartwick (No. 18-T) in the conference rankings mirror the larger picture.

George Washington University (79 points), which finished 3-1 at the CWPA/Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Crossover at Villanova University this weekend bypasses Harvard University (75 points) for the No. 5 position to drop the Crimson back to No. 6.

Bucknell University (71 points), Brown University (63 points), Mercyhurst University (62 points) andNotre Dame College (55 points) round out the Top 10.

 

2013 Women's CWPA Division III Top 5

The 2010, 2011 and 2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion Wolverines of Grove City College (98 points) remain the top selection as the No. 1 team in the Week 6/February 27 CWPA Division III Top Five Poll.

The No. 1 pick of the league's coaches for the 24th consecutive week, the Wolverines captured their third consecutive CWPA Division III crown at home in the James E. Longnecker Competition Pool last season by upending Chatham University (19-2 W),Connecticut College (13-3 W) and Washington & Jefferson College (10-3 W).

Connecticut College (92 points) stays at No. 2, but change occurs in the middle of the Top Five with Washington & Jefferson College (89 points) bumping up to No. 3 in the week of competition against the host Hoosiers, the University of Michigan and Long Beach State University at the Fluid Four hosted by Indiana University over the weekend.

The Presidents rise drops Carthage College (88 points) back to No. 4, with Macalester College (67 points) rounding out the Top Five.

Utica College (16 points) remains within striking distance of the Scots for the fifth position as five of the six Division III league members picked up at least one vote.