2019 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
 | |
| Teams | 7 |
|---|---|
| Format | Single-elimination |
| Finals site | Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex Stockton, California |
| Champions | Stanford (11th title) |
| Runner-up | Pacific |
| Semifinalists | |
| Winning coach | John Vargas (1st title) |
| MVP | Ben Hallock (Stanford) |
| Television | NCAA |
The 2019 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from November 30 to December 8, 2019. The first game of the opening round was held at Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Massachusetts and hosted by Harvard University. All subsequent games, including the finals, were held at Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex in Stockton, California and hosted by the University of the Pacific.[1] This was the 51st NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Seven teams participated in this championship. Opening round game one was played at Harvard University. The Southern California Trojans (USC) were the defending national champions.[2]
Qualifying teams
Five conferences were granted automatic qualification to the championship: Golden Coast Conference (GCC), Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). Two additional teams earned entry into the tournament with at-large bids, with one of them coming from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and one coming from the Golden Coast Conference.[3]
| Seed | Team | Conference | Bid type | Appearance[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford | MPSF | Automatic | 33rd |
| 2 | Pacific | GCC | At-large | 4th |
| Bucknell | MAWPC | Automatic | 7th | |
| Harvard | NWPC | Automatic | 3rd | |
| Pepperdine | GCC | Automatic | 13th | |
| Southern California | MPSF | At-large | 34th | |
| UC Davis | WWPA | Automatic | 7th |
Schedule
- All times are Eastern time[5]
| November 30 | December 5 | December 7 | December 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Round Game 1 | Opening Round Games 2 & 3 | Semifinals | Championship |
| 12:30 p.m. | 4:00 p.m. & 5:45 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m. | 6:00 p.m. |
Bracket
The championship featured a knockout format where schools that lost were eliminated from the tournament. The championship pairings were announced on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, by the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee.
| Opening Round Game 1 | Opening Round Games 2–3 | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Stanford | 15 (OT) | ||||||||||||||||
| Bucknell | 9 | Southern California | 14 | |||||||||||||||
| Harvard | 12 | Southern California | 15 | 1 | Stanford | 13 | ||||||||||||
| Bucknell | 13 | 2 | Pacific | 8 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Pacific | 17 | ||||||||||||||||
| UC Davis | 12 | Pepperdine | 13 | |||||||||||||||
| Pepperdine | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
All Tournament Team
After the championship, the All-NCAA Tournament First and Second teams were announced.[4][6]
First Team
- Tyler Abramson (Stanford)
- Engin Ege Colak (Pacific)
- Chris Dilworth (Pepperdine)
- Ben Hallock (Most Outstanding Player, Stanford)
- Jacob Mercep (Southern California)
- Luke Pavillard (Pacific)
- Nic Porter (Southern California)
Second Team
- Andrew Chun (Stanford)
- Jeremie Cote (Pacific)
- Balazs Kosa (Pepperdine)
- AJ Rossman (Stanford)
- Djordje Stanic (Pacific)
- Bennett Williams (Stanford)
- Quinn Woodhead (Stanford)
References
- ↑ "Who Hosts the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Water Polo Championship in 2019-2021". Collegiate Water Polo Association. July 6, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "2019 national collegiate men's water polo championship selections". National Collegiate Athletic Association. November 26, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "National Collegiate Athletic Association Releases Bracket for 2019 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship; No. 9 Harvard University-vs.-No. 13 Bucknell University to Kickoff the Tournament on November 30". collegiatewaterpolo.org. Collegiate Water Polo Association. November 25, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- 1 2 "2019 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championships Records Book" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "2019 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ Cohn, Bill (December 9, 2019). "Rollicking Start Gives Stanford 2019 NCAA Men's Water Polo Title over Host Pacific". Swimming World. Retrieved May 22, 2026.