WWPA's

[MZone1988]

Who does everyone have! Big weekend for NCAA water polo!

[oneeyeddeacon]

The tournament is UC Davis' to lose, but honestly I think 5 of the 6 teams have a legit shot.

1st day:
LMU vs. Air Force
I really think LMU will take this. Air Force has played exceptionally poorly this year, and while they have the talent to win the tournament, they make more mistakes than a WWPA team really should. LMU by 4 or 5.

SCU vs. Cal Baptist
This is a tough draw for SCU. Cal Baptist has a very good shot at winning this game, but I'll still go with the higher seed in SCU.

2nd Day:
UC Davis vs. LMU
This will be the game to watch. If UC Davis pulls off the win, I think they'll win the tournament, since I don't think SCU or UCSD are consistent enough to beat them. I'll go with UC Davis by one, probably in overtime.

SCU vs. UCSD
UCSD really should win, but SCU was up 6-1 on them their last meeting before allowing UCSD to complete a ridiculous comeback. UCSD has tended to start games very slowly this year, and this is a bad time of year to be a second half team. I'll still go with UCSD though, probably by one or two.

3rd Day:
UC Davis vs. UCSD
UC Davis takes this in what will probably be a 1 or 2 goal game. I really don't think this year is UCSD's year. Luckily, UCSD returns nearly their entire team next year and will get back Josh Stiling and Luke Syka, so they'll have the tools to wreak havoc on the WWPA barring any unforeseen circumstances.

[dwpc69]

I am not sure that it's UC Davis[' tournament to lose. At the beginning of the season, they were ranked fourth in the conference by the coaches. They have been never ranked higher than UC San Diego, for example.
BWT, Davis returns almost all crucial players next year (with the exception of Rogers). I guess the threat to close their water polo program in 2009-2010 affected recruiting for a couple of years.

[polo68]

I tend to agree with oneeyed deacon, although this conference has been pretty even all season, so I would not be surprised to see something unusual happen. Davis has a slight advantage in not having to travel. They won all of their conference games, and they beat all of their conference opponents in tournament games, so I think they should be favored to win it all.

Should be a great weekend of water polo with a lot of close games.

[oneeyeddeacon]

I am not sure that it's UC Davis[' tournament to lose. At the beginning of the season, they were ranked fourth in the conference by the coaches. They have been never ranked higher than UC San Diego, for example.
BWT, Davis returns almost all crucial players next year (with the exception of Rogers). I guess the threat to close their water polo program in 2009-2010 affected recruiting for a couple of years.

I'll go out on a limb and guess that you're a UC Davis fan and who doesn't want to jinx them (which would be very understandable ).

As far as UC Davis being ranked lower than UCSD, you're right, but I really disagree with this since Davis has beaten them twice. I think Davis lost to some east coast teams the week before, which interfered with their ranking, but for some reason WWPA teams tend to be ranked higher than CWPA teams. I probably would've moved UCSD down to 18th or 19th and moved some east coast teams above them.

Regarding my comment about UCSD wreaking havoc next year, that was just speculation. The WWPA is always pretty tight, but I would imagine that adding (arguably?) the best player in the WWPA (Josh Stiling) back into the UCSD lineup would put them in a pretty good position to win the conference next year. Really though, what I'm hoping for next year is for one or two WWPA teams to step up and consistently beat some of the MPSF teams and possibly attain a top-7 or 8 ranking, which was the norm only 5 or so years ago. I'm surprised nobody has complained about this very much on this forum, with people instead electing to bash MPSF teams like UC Irvine, Pepperdine, or LBSU. The sad thing is that, in all honesty, those 3 teams would probably qualify for the NCAA tournament if they were in the WWPA or CPWA, which wasn't always the case several years ago.

[dwpc69]

I'll go out on a limb and guess that you're a UC Davis fan and who doesn't want to jinx them (which would be very understandable ).

I doubt any of the players read this forum, especially taking into account the intensity of the WWPA coverage here))
I would not describe myself as a UC Davis fan but I watched a few UC Davis games this season.
In any case, It seems to me that the field is pretty even and no team dominates the conference.

[jenglish95]

11/22
LMU over AF by 1
SCU over Cal Baptist by 1

[jw54]

Saturday result first semi-final

UC Davis 9 LMU 7

[my69442w30]

Saturday result first semi-final

UC Davis 9 LMU 7

What a great statement for UC Davis, considering just a few years ago the program was in deep trouble, and with the support of WWP members, water polo fans around the country, and UCD Alums the program still stands today.

Congrats UC Davis

[jw54]

UC Davis athletics reporting that "Almost every Aggie MWP alum from the last five years is sitting to the right of the desk.”—received a tweet from my son that Schaal Aquatics Center was rocking -awesome crowd—tomorrow's final game should be very exciting--wish I was there.

UCSD 8 Santa Clara 4

Tomorrow's final between UC Davis and UCSD is at 2pm--the game is not being streamed but there is a live twitter feed--almost play--by-play https://twitter.com/UCDavisInGame--should be a great game.

Jim Hicks
Irvine

[dwpc69]

I have watched both games today.
LMU has a bright future with their Novi Sad pair (especially Mitrovic) and a very good goalie.
Santa Clara has been a bit of a dissapointment both today (4:8 loss to UCSD) and two weeks ago (4:13 loss to UC Davis).
In fact, they look weaker than LMU, at least in my eyes.

[oneeyeddeacon]

I have watched both games today.
LMU has a bright future with their Novi Sad pair (especially Mitrovic) and a very good goalie.
Santa Clara has been a bit of a dissapointment both today (4:8 loss to UCSD) and two weeks ago (4:13 loss to UC Davis).
In fact, they look weaker than LMU, at least in my eyes.

What changed between yesterday and today?

[dwpc69]

Good question :)

I have no clue. LMU is a very young team (most players who played today are freshmen and sophomores). Santa Clara played reasonably well (for a change), but not great.

P.S. At some point in the fourth quarter, LMU goalie got ejected for arguing a call with the officials. Santa Clara supporters loudly cheered the ejection even though the result of the game had not been in doubt for quite some time. LMU had to put a field player in goal. Classless on the part of those Santa Clara folks, in my opinion.

[dwpc69]

One more thing. UC SD coach put Matt Michalko (a 2M player) to guard Bernie Rogers. 2M offence is not a strong part of Davis game so UCSD could afford it. I am curious if San Diego did the same in the two previous games this season (both lost by San Diego).

[oneeyeddeacon]

One more thing. UC SD coach put Matt Michalko (a 2M player) to guard Bernie Rogers. 2M offence is not a strong part of Davis game so UCSD could afford it. I am curious if San Diego did the same in the two previous games this season (both lost by San Diego).

I saw their previous matchup, and no, Michalko (and Friedrich) were apparently sick and were not really put in the game that much.