USC Remains In Front Of Women's Varsity Top 20

March 12, 2014

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Southern California remains the No. 1 team in the country by topping the Women's National Top 20 and highlighting the 2014 Women's Varsity Top 20, Division III Top 10, CWPA Top 10 and CWPA Division III Top Five Week 8/March 12 Polls released by the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA).

The top teams in three of the four polls remain unchanged from last week's edition as USC (National Top 20), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (Division III Top 10) and Connecticut College (CWPA Division III Top 10) hold onto their previous top rankings, while Indiana University climbs into a tie with Princeton University for the No. 1 position in the CWPA Division I/II Top 10.

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, Golden Coast 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.

2014 Varsity Top 20 Poll (Week 8)

The Top 10, led by the University of Southern California, remains the same, while the final 10 spots in the 2014 Women's Varsity National Top 20 Week 8/March 12 Poll experienced some shifting from the prior week's rankings.

USC (100 points), which remains a unanimous pick as the top team in the country, is followed in order by the University of California-Los Angeles (95 points),Stanford University (90 points), the University of California (85 points), Arizona State University (80 points), the University of California-Irvine (75 points),California State University-Northridge (68 points), Princeton University (63 points), Loyola Marymount University (61 points) and San Jose State University (52 points) as the Top 10 remains unchanged from the Week 7/March 5 voting.

The first changes in the Top 20 occur at No. 11 as Long Beach State University (49 points), theUniversity of Hawaii (46 points) surpass the University of California-San Diego (44 points) to take over at No. 11 and 12, respectively. UC-San Diego slips back to No. 13 with Indiana University (37 points) and the University of California-Davis (26 points) remaining locks at No. 14 and 15.

The University of California-Santa Barbara (24 points) and Santa Clara University (19 points) rise to the No. 16 and 17 spots, while the University of Michigan (17 points) and San Diego State University(13 points) take over at No. 18 and 19.

Due to a tie, the final position in the Top 20 is shared by three teams as Hartwick College (3 points),California Baptist University (3 points) and Wagner College (3 points) round out the squads that garnered notice from the polling committee.

2014 Varsity Top 20 (Week 8)

 

2014 Division III Top 10 Poll (Week 8)

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (96 points) holds onto the top position in the Women's Varsity Division III Top 10 Week 8/March 12 Poll by a razor's edge over bothPomona-Pitzer Colleges (95 points) and Whittier College (94 points).

Behind the Athenas, Sagehens and Poets, which also ranked at No. 1-to-3 last week, the first change occurs as California Lutheran University (82 points) supplants Chapman University (81 points) by a point for the No. 4 position.

Chapman drops to No. 5, while the University of Redlands (77 points), Occidental College (70 points) and the University of La Verne (63 points) cling to the No. 6-to-8 positions for another week.

Washington & Jefferson College (60 points) and Connecticut College (46 points), which were tied at No. 9 seven days ago, are no longer equals as the Presidents claimed sole possession of the No. 9 spot in the poll.

Connecticut wraps-up the Top 10 with Grove City College (11 points) receiving votes.

2014 Division III Poll (Week 8)

 

2014 CWPA Top 10 Poll (Week 8)

2012 and 2013 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) champion Princeton University gain some company this week as 2011 league champion Indiana University catches the Tigers' by the tail to move into a tie for the top spot in the CWPA Top 10 Week 8/March 12 Poll.

Princeton, which held sole possession of the No. 1 ranking this season from the Preseason voting through last week, will not face Indiana during the regular season as the Southern Division Tigers and Western Division Hoosiers are not slated to crossover at any point leading up to the CWPA Championship at Bucknell University on April 25-27.

The sole other change in the Top 10 occurs at No. 3 and 4 as the University of Michigan (89 points) slides past Hartwick College (87 points) to trail only Princeton and Indiana in the league standings.  Hartwick falls back to No. 4, with Harvard University (80 points) accounting for the final spot in the Top Five.

Brown University (74 points), Bucknell (69 points), George Washington University (65 points),Mercyhurst University (61 points) and Gannon University (56 points) round out the Top 10.

2014 CWPA Top 10 Poll (Week 8)

 

2014 CWPA Division III Poll (Week 8)

Washington & Jefferson College clings to the No. 1 position in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Top Five Week 8/March 12 Poll for a second week.

W&J (98 points) leads a Top Five which experiences no changes as the defending CWPA Division III Champion Camels (96 points) continues at No. 2 after ranking in the No. 1 spot from the Preseason to Week 6 balloting.

Grove City College (89 points) holds on at No. 3, with Macalester College (87 points) and Carthage College (80 points) completing the league's Division III rankings.

2014 CWPA Division III Poll (Week 8)