2025 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | May 9–11, 2025 |
| Teams | 9 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Stanford, 10th title |
| Runners-up | USC |
| Third place | Hawaii and UCLA |
| Awards | |
| Best player | Christine Carpenter, Stanford |
The 2025 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship was the 23rd edition of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, the annual tournament to decide the championship of NCAA women's collegiate water polo. The tournament was held from May 9 to May 11, 2025, at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the championship game, aired live on ESPNU, Stanford defeated Southern California 11-7. It was Stanford's 10th NCAA title in women's water polo and its 137th NCAA title in a team sport.
Qualifying teams
The field of teams was revealed in a selection show on April 28, 2025. Six conferences are granted automatic qualification to the championship: the Big West Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Western Water Polo Association. Three additional teams earned entry into the tournament with at-large bids, with all of them coming from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.[1]
| Seed | Team | Conference | Bid type | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford | MPSF | Automatic | 24th |
| 2 | UCLA | MPSF | At-large | 23rd[2] |
| 3 | USC | MPSF | At-large | 21st[3] |
| 4 | Hawai'i | Big West | Automatic | 9th |
| California | MPSF | At-large | 19th | |
| Loyola Marymount | GCC | Automatic | 10th[4] | |
| Harvard | CWPA | Automatic | 1st[5] | |
| McKendree | WWPA | Automatic | 1st[6] | |
| Wagner College | MAAC | Automatic | 8th |
Schedule and results
All times Eastern
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | TV | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Round – Wednesday, May 7 | |||||
| 1 | 6:00 p.m. | Wagner vs. McKendree | 19–7 | NCAA.com | |
| Quarterfinals – Friday, May 9 | |||||
| 2 | 12:00 p.m. | Stanford vs. Wagner | 28–7 | NCAA.com | |
| 3 | 2:00 p.m. | Hawaii vs. California | 8–7 | 287 | |
| 4 | 4:00 p.m. | UCLA vs. LMU (CA) | 11–8 | 302 | |
| 5 | 6:00 p.m. | Southern California vs. Harvard | 18–7 | 345 | |
| Semifinals – Saturday, May 10 | |||||
| 6 | 12:00 p.m. | Stanford vs. Hawaii | 13–4 | NCAA.com | 329 |
| 7 | 2:00 p.m. | UCLA vs. Southern California | 13–15 | 348 | |
| Championship – Sunday, May 11 | |||||
| 8 | 12:00 p.m. | Stanford vs. Southern California | 11–7 | ESPNU | 398 |
Tournament bracket
| Opening round Wednesday, May 7, 2025 | Quarterfinals Friday, May 9, 2025 | Semifinals Saturday, May 10, 2025 | Championship Sunday, May 11, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Stanford | 28 | |||||||||||||||||
| Wagner | 19 | Wagner | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| McKendree | 7 | 1 | Stanford | 13 | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | Hawaii | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Hawaii | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| California | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Stanford | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | USC | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | UCLA | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| LMU (CA) | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | UCLA | 13 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | USC | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | USC | 18 | |||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
All Tournament Team
First Team
- Ryann Neushul (Stanford)
- Jenna Flynn (Stanford)
- Emma Lineback (UCLA)
- Tilly Kearns (USC)
- Rachel Gazzaniga (USC)
- Bernadette Doyle (Hawai’i)
- Christine Carpenter (Most Outstanding Player, Stanford)
Second Team
- Ava Stryker (USC)
- Anna Pearson (UCLA)
- Jordan Wedderburn (Hawai’i)
- Eszter Varro (California)
- Ruby Hodge (Harvard)
- Ruth Arino Ariz (Loyola Marymount)
- Anna Reed (USC)
References
- ^ "2025 NCAA women's water polo championship: How to watch the selection show, bracket, schedule". NCAA.com. NCAA. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "UCLA Earns No. 2 Seed for 2025 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship". UCLABruins.com. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "USC Women's Water Polo Sets Course For 21st Consecutive NCAA Appearance". USCTrojans.com. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "LMU Women's Water Polo Set for 10th NCAA Tournament Appearance, Open Against 2-Seed UCLA". LMU Lions. Loyola Marymount University Athletics. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "Women's Water Polo Wins First Ever CWPA Championship". gocrimson.com. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ "Women's Water Polo will Match Up with Wagner in the Opening Round of the National Collegiate Water Polo Championships". mckbearcats.com. Retrieved 28 April 2025.