2025 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
 | |
| Teams | 8 |
|---|---|
| Format | Single-elimination |
| Finals site | Avery Aquatic Center Stanford, California |
| Champions | UCLA (14th title) |
| Runner-up | Southern California |
| Semifinalists | |
| Winning coach | Adam Wright (6th title) |
| MVP | Frederico Jucá Carsalade (UCLA) |
| Television | NCAA and ESPNU[1] |
The 2025 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from December 5–7, 2025, in Stanford, California at the Avery Aquatic Center and hosted by Stanford University. This was the 57th NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. The UCLA Bruins were the defending national champions.[2]
Qualifying teams
Six conferences were granted automatic qualification to the championship: Big West Conference (Big West), Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC), West Coast Conference (WCC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). Two additional teams earned entry into the tournament with at-large bids, with both of them coming from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.[3]
| Seed | Team | Conference | Bid type | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern California | MPSF | Automatic | 40th |
| 2 | UCLA | MPSF | At-large | 40th |
| 3 | Stanford | MPSF | At-large | 36th |
| 4 | Fordham | MAWPC | Automatic | 5th |
| Concordia University-Irvine (CUI) | WWPA | Automatic | 1st | |
| Princeton | NWPC | Automatic | 11th | |
| San Jose State | WCC | Automatic | 6th | |
| UC Davis | Big West | Automatic | 10th |
Schedule
- All times are Eastern time[4]
| December 5 | December 5 | December 6 | December 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Round Games 1 & 2 | First Round Games 3 & 4 | Semifinals | Championship |
| 3:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 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 Monday, November 24, 2025, by the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee.
| First round Friday, December 5, 2025 | Semifinals Saturday, December 6, 2025 | Championship Sunday, December 7, 2025 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Southern California | 16 | ||||||||||||
| CUI | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Southern California | 16 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Fordham | 7 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Fordham | 13 | ||||||||||||
| San Jose State | 9 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Southern California | 10 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UCLA | 11 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UCLA | 15 | ||||||||||||
| Princeton | 11 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | UCLA | 9 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Stanford | 7 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Stanford | 15 | ||||||||||||
| UC Davis | 9 | |||||||||||||
All Tournament Team
After the championship, the All-NCAA Tournament First and Second teams were announced.[5][6]
First Team
- West Temkin (Goalkeeper) – (Stanford)
- Ben Forer (Stanford)
- Frederico Jucá Carsalade (Most Outstanding Player, UCLA)
- Chase Dodd (UCLA)
- Ryder Dodd (UCLA)
- Robert López Duart (Southern California)
- Straninja Krstic (Southern California)
Second Team
- Pablo De Souza (Goalkeeper) – (Concordia University-Irvine)
- Andras Toth (Fordham)
- Logan McCarroll (Princeton)
- Mateja Bosic (San Jose State)
- Botond Balogh (Stanford)
- Tommy Kiesling (UC Davis)
- Mihailo Vukazic (Southern California)
References
- ↑ "USA Water Polo to Present LIVE Coverage of 2025 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship on ESPNU". USA Water Polo. October 22, 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "2025 National Collegiate men's water polo championship selections". National Collegiate Athletic Association. November 24, 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "No. 5 Fordham University & No. 14 Princeton University to Compete at 2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship on December 5-7". collegiatewaterpolo.org. Collegiate Water Polo Association. November 24, 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "2025 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "Fordham University's Andras Toth & Princeton University's Logan McCarroll Named to 2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Water Polo National Championship All-Tournament Team". Collegiate Water Polo Association. December 9, 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ Hallahan, Jack (December 8, 2025). "UCLA Stuns USC at the Buzzer to Win 2025 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship, 11–10". Swimming World. Retrieved May 22, 2026.