2022 Season

[jeff]

Does anyone know why Chris Lee is no longer at UCLA?

Who is likely to be Stanford's starting goalie?

[wprookie]

I don't know why, but find it interesting that I couldn't find a "thank you, UCLA" post anywhere. He recently was a guest on a podcast about his water polo journey and said very positive things about Coralie at Cal. I may have missed it on the pod but I didn't hear a thing about Adam at UCLA.

Looks like Walsh will get the initial nod (only judging by her roster slot), but I imagine Avital will start seeing minutes sooner than later.

[Schoolyards]

Maya is a stud, personally I think she is their best option.

[SwimCoach]

Who is likely to be Stanford's starting goalie?

Both Walsh and Avital are both solid goalies. I would go with Walsh, but either will be fine.

On another subject, here are the CWPA rankings that came out today.

I guess that you have to give USC the #1 spot since they are the reigning National Champions, but I think that Stanford has three of the best five players in the NCAA in the Fischer sisters and Neushul and should be the clear #1. They are the team to beat this year.

Nice to see Arizona St. get some well-deserved respect, but I do not see them being better than Cal this year. In fact, I think that Cal has a chance to end up being one of the top 3 teams this year.

2022 WOMEN’S VARSITY TOP 25 (PRESEASON)

1 University of Southern California
2 Stanford University
3 University of California-Los Angeles
4 Arizona State University
5 University of California
6 University of Hawaii
7 University of California-Irvine
8 University of Michigan
9 University of California-San Diego
10 Fresno State University
11 Indiana University
12 Long Beach State University
13 University of the Pacific
14 University of California-Davis
15 San Diego State University
16 San Jose State University
17 Loyola Marymount University
18 University of California-Santa Barbara
19 Princeton University
20 Harvard University
21 California Baptist University
22 Marist College
23 Wagner College
24 Bucknell University

[Justafan22]

Who is likely to be Stanford's starting goalie?

Both Walsh and Avital are great goalies and IMHO are as good as any in college right now.

On another subject, here are the CWPA rankings that came out today. I guess that you have to give USC the #1 spot since they are the reigning National Champions, but I think that Stanford has three of the best five players in the NCAA in the Fischer sisters and Neushul and should be the clear #1. They are the team to beat this year.

Nice to see Arizona St. get some well-deserved respect.

2022 WOMEN’S VARSITY TOP 25 (PRESEASON)

1 University of Southern California
2 Stanford University
3 University of California-Los Angeles
4 Arizona State University
5 University of California
6 University of Hawaii
7 University of California-Irvine
8 University of Michigan
9 University of California-San Diego
10 Fresno State University
11 Indiana University
12 Long Beach State University
13 University of the Pacific
14 University of California-Davis
15 San Diego State University
16 San Jose State University
17 Loyola Marymount University
18 University of California-Santa Barbara
19 Princeton University
20 Harvard University
21 California Baptist University
22 Marist College
23 Wagner College
24 Bucknell University

Wow ASU at #4. Very nice. Also nice to see The Hoosiers at #11

[SwimCoach]

Glad to see women's water polo starting again. I hope to take in a few of the college games at UCSB in-between the high school games in the Tournament of Champions.

Outside of the fantastic draft thread, there is not much action here, so I thought that I would share my top 10 list for the upcoming year. I am going out on a limb and putting Cal in my Top 3.

1 Stanford: Easily the most talented team in the country. I feel that they have three of the top 5 players in the country in Makenzie and Aria Fischer and Ryann Neushul. Harbilas, Roemer and Constandse round out a superb group of field players. I anticipate Roemer scoring a ton of goals this years with teams focusing on the Fischers and Neushul. With Avital in goal, their starting lineup does not have a weakness. Not sure how deep their talent is.

2 USC: They are losing a lot of talent in Megens, Mammolito, Bakoc and McIntosh, but the return of Hauschild, Aznar and Kearns will definitely help. Weber, Tehaney and Guiral are very talented players and I anticipate Janov playing a bigger role this year. Freshman Vandeweghe-O'Shea should contribute immediately. Their starting field players are extremely strong. I have not seen goalie Stern play much and their bench does not seem to be as deep and talented as in the past.

3 Cal: Joustra would make my list of top 5 players and Protopapas and Wright combine to make a fantastic trio. Dempsey, Whitney, Turner, Raisin and Reynoso give Simmons some solid choices to round out their starters. They have a deep roster so it will be interesting to see who else steps up this year.

4 UCLA: Musselmann coming back will be a huge a big boost to them and is obviously one of the best players in the world. Hill has the talent to be an elite player and Johnson, Ayala, Allen and Palmer and goalie Philips are all very solid players. They seem to have an extremely deep bench.

5 UCI: Prentice is one of the top 10 players in the country in my opinion and Flynn and Smith are very solid players. I anticipate all three scoring lots of goals this year. Their starting team is very solid. Not sure how deep their talent goes.

6 Hawaii: Lots of foreign talent and I expect big things out of Gomez de la Puente and Stertefeld this year. Lemay-Lavoie is very experienced and a handful at center.

7 Michigan: Maddy Steere is an outstanding player and O'Reilly has great experience.

8 ASU: Petrovary is a great scorer and Van Buren is one of the better centers in the country and definitely overlooked. Baca is solid in goal.

9 Indiana: As others have mentioned, Dodson definitely has this program pointed int he right direction, but I am not sure if they have enough talent to play with the top teams.

10 Fresno State: Benson is a fantastic coach and always seems to get the most out of her players.

[Rational]

Down goes ASU!!
Fresno State goes up 10-6 before winning 11-8. Big win for the Fresno State program

[Polodad]

It appears Swim Coach has a better read on relative strengths than the Coaches poll.

[Justafan22]

Down goes ASU!!
Fresno State goes up 10-6 before winning 11-8. Big win for the Fresno State program

Down goes #4 ASU again. Taken down by UCI

[3polokids]

Down goes ASU!!
Fresno State goes up 10-6 before winning 11-8. Big win for the Fresno State program

The Fresno ASU game was pretty good. May have been first game of the season, lot of great defense and goalie play from Fresno.

[dadonthedeck]

Down goes #4 ASU again. Taken down by UCI

Ouch. #4 in the poll is a lofty height from which to fall.

[Polodad]

ASU beaten by Cal 17-7. Cal played their youngsters in the 4th.

[Polodad]

Michigan over UCI, 7-6, in Tempe.

[NoSoloPolo]

ASU has some outstanding young talent. I like what I see from the freshman. The first shot Stevie Lynn Griffin took was a mean spirited missle into the cage. Vanda Baksa had several quality shots and her ball handling and defense is very good. They lost Bente Rogge to graduation and that's a pretty big hit - she was on the Dutch national team...which is a pretty darn good team. This team is going to rise this season from this not so great start...mark my words.

But, ASU seems to be struggling with their drop/zone defense. They were picked apart royally by USC in the playoffs last year, and it was the same story again today. Only in the 2nd half of the game against Cal did they press a little bit - and it worked. Nothing against their goalie, but she doesn't have sufficient mobility or reach against top D1 shooters to give the team the luxury of allowing outside shooting... so ASU is going to have to get their bodies on the outside a bit more.

I also thought they just looked a little out of shape. But, that's just me.

[Schoolyards]

Glad to see women's water polo starting again. I hope to take in a few of the college games at UCSB in-between the high school games in the Tournament of Champions.

Outside of the fantastic draft thread, there is not much action here, so I thought that I would share my top 10 list for the upcoming year. I am going out on a limb and putting Cal in my Top 3.

1 Stanford: Easily the most talented team in the country. I feel that they have three of the top 5 players in the country in Makenzie and Aria Fischer and Ryann Neushul. Harbilas, Roemer and Constandse round out a superb group of field players. I anticipate Roemer scoring a ton of goals this years with teams focusing on the Fischers and Neushul. With Avital in goal, their starting lineup does not have a weakness. Not sure how deep their talent is.

2 USC: They are losing a lot of talent in Megens, Mammolito, Bakoc and McIntosh, but the return of Hauschild, Aznar and Kearns will definitely help. Weber, Tehaney and Guiral are very talented players and I anticipate Janov playing a bigger role this year. Freshman Vandeweghe-O'Shea should contribute immediately. Their starting field players are extremely strong. I have not seen goalie Stern play much and their bench does not seem to be as deep and talented as in the past.

3 Cal: Joustra would make my list of top 5 players and Protopapas and Wright combine to make a fantastic trio. Dempsey, Whitney, Turner, Raisin and Reynoso give Simmons some solid choices to round out their starters. They have a deep roster so it will be interesting to see who else steps up this year.

4 UCLA: Musselmann coming back will be a huge a big boost to them and is obviously one of the best players in the world. Hill has the talent to be an elite player and Johnson, Ayala, Allen and Palmer and goalie Philips are all very solid players. They seem to have an extremely deep bench.

5 UCI: Prentice is one of the top 10 players in the country in my opinion and Flynn and Smith are very solid players. I anticipate all three scoring lots of goals this year. Their starting team is very solid. Not sure how deep their talent goes.

6 Hawaii: Lots of foreign talent and I expect big things out of Gomez de la Puente and Stertefeld this year. Lemay-Lavoie is very experienced and a handful at center.

7 Michigan: Maddy Steere is an outstanding player and O'Reilly has great experience.

8 ASU: Petrovary is a great scorer and Van Buren is one of the better centers in the country and definitely overlooked. Baca is solid in goal.

9 Indiana: As others have mentioned, Dodson definitely has this program pointed int he right direction, but I am not sure if they have enough talent to play with the top teams.

10 Fresno State: Benson is a fantastic coach and always seems to get the most out of her players.

Isabel Williams is 6'3" and not much got past her this weekend in goal. Teams better learn to shoot low on her because high or wide looks like they have very little chance of going in, she was impressive!