LJU is a different team with their new player. One player cannot make a team, but if you know wave mechanics, constructive interference of two waves can make a huge difference. LJU has entered the chat I think.
San Clemente has been working hard and played excellent defense against Mission. Mission looked confused.
The final between Mission and LJU could be a great game.
CCU beat Lamo A - 13 - 7
Stanford beat SJX - 18 - 11
Cdm upset Tsunami 8-7, from an 0-3 start
Mission is playing as expected, playing La Jolla for 1st
Dons destroyed Vanguard 9-5
San Clemente had a great weekend and took down Dons B for 3rd. Their defense looked very solid in both games today.
LJU in second was not what I expected. Happily surprised by their improved play. They will do much better against teams not named Mission. Mission’s defense has spent a lot of time in the water with the new player on LJU so it is a bit unfair of a measure i think.
Mission was expected to win, but the game against San Clemente was much closer than every other game. Maybe just a glitch in the matrix? Perhaps they figured it out. They have some different puzzle pieces now for sure.
I believe Mission was trying to save their energy for a possible scare in their 1st place game that was coming up.
San Clemente has been an amazing team recently, but there’s no way Mission would let that happen by accident, mainly because most of San Clemente’s games were pretty average against the teams they played.
Any chance they reseed the San Diego Cup 12u AA Tournament based on the results over the weekend at the Patriot Games?
SOCAL received the 4th seed and Patriot the 6th, neither should be that high. San Clemente 13th seed and CDM 17th deserve better based on recent results.
CDM beat a full strength SOCAL 13-4 for 5th place while San Clemente got 3rd in the Patriot Games.
Probably needs to be handled by the coach during seeding call.
From a bracket perspective I think SC could win the bracket they are in.
Re-rack looks like same bracket as maybe LJU or CCU and Stanford or whoever wins that bracket. Another potential win.
Run would stop in third round because most likely Mission would be 1st in M.
Don’t forget about La Jolla, they got second this weekend. However, I really doubt they would like to have the bracket reseeded.
I do think that LJU vs SC would be a close/good match. To get that level of competition after 1 re-rack is pretty good. I think teams like SD Dons 12U A will see blow outs till the final.
FYI - Dons B will be playing in 12u AA.
Seeding is way wrong then, SD Dons 12U B team does not belong as #3 seed after losing this past weekend to #13 seed.
I wish teams would just identify as A, B, etc. Colors mean nothing.
Completely agree…seeding is way off throughout and not reflective of current performance/roster changes. San Clemente should be seeded way higher with recent performance as should LJU with nice roster adds and results. SOCAL, disappointingly, is no longer deserving of such a high seed after losing top players to Mission (it was nice seeing them create real competition with Mission & Dons A at the top). Dons B is beating most A teams and should fall somewhere in the top 10.
Nice to see that we have lots of passionate parents here on 12U boys. Let’s just keep in mind that the San Diego Cup is more about having a good time for these kids, (and parents) before they embark in the grueling JOs training stretch. The seeding is not that important for this tournament and nobody will remember who wins what division. I’m sure they will get all the seedings straightened out, by the time the JO Quals come around, and all the players have settled into their clubs, and coaches are done experimenting.
Agreed Sopac coaches did not consider SD at all during last years seeding meeting.
Top 20 12u Boys Water Polo Teams
week #36 – twelve weeks to JOs
#1 Mission WPC – There are a number of good teams in 12u this season, but none has posed a serious challenge to Mission in 2026.
#2 SD Dons A --This past weekend at K7, the Dons had the look of squad capable of posing a serious challenge to Mission. We may have to wait until May 9 at Futures week 5 to finally see full-strength Dons 12A vs full-strength Mission 12A in 2026.
#3 Vanguard – Even when looking mortal, they still figure out how to win.
#4 Greenwich – Haven’t personally seen this team in months, but based on how they last looked and the scores they post, I’ve got Greenwich rounding out the top-4.
#5 CC United – Well balanced, well coached team of kids who all seem to know their roles and are able to attack any weakness in any part of the pool.
#6 San Jose Express – Mainly powered by a big, fast, strong center who often plays for the foul. SJX also has competent attackers on the left side.
#7 North Irvine – Beat San Clemente by 2 and pushed Vanguard to the brink in Futures week 4. This is a team on the up.
#8 San Clemente – Proved they can play to the level of their competition even when playing the very best at Patriot Games, but proved the same in nearly coming up on the wrong side vs Tsunami. They definitely have the weapons to be dangerous.
#9 Lamorinda – Good defenders on the wings lead to opportunistic scores, but the center is the engine to their offense.
#10 La Jolla United – Had a great showing at Patriot Games following the recent return-to-roster player @Polonewb broke the news on.
#11 CDM – Dropping to Futures D2 seems like a wake-up call. This team has been on fire lately.
#12 Stanford – Strong in the middle with a star player who mostly plays CD or Set, and surrounded by solid teammates. Most scoring comes in from the right side of the pool.
#13 SD Dons B – Had a high finish at Patriot Games although benefitted from a soft bracket. Undeniably talented but I have them outside the top-10 for now.
#14 SOCAL – Had a good win over ORWP at Patriot Games and over 908WPC in Futures week 4.
#15 908 WPC – Came within 1 of knocking off SOCAL then clobbered SD Shores in week 4 of Futures.
#16 Tsunami – Vanquished Patriot at Patriot’s own games to finish in 7th place.
#17 Patriot – Showing signs of life recently including a victory over ORWP in week 4 of Futures.
#18 Newport – Seemed to have plateaued in their development, but knowing their coaching staff makes it folly to write this team off.
#19 San Diego Shores – They have the potential to be formidable, but are not playing their best polo these past few weeks even with the thumping of ORWP at Patriot Games.
#20 ORWP – I’ve made no secret how much I like this team. They are capable of playing better than they’ve posted the past few weeks.
In the absence of really passionate parents i don’t know who blows $10k a year or more for club sports.
Will be a good final to see Mission vs Greenwich.
Yes but take a look at all the brackets and all the pools being used. There are hundreds of teams in this County Cup and dozens of pools being used. It’s a huge undertaking to throw this tournament, and they do have to put out schedules as early as possible, so out of towners can make plans for travel and hotels. Sometimes seeding will be off a bit, and I’m sure if a few coaches agreed and reached out about the seedings, I could see them changing them, but what is there is 36 coaches accross different age groups, boys and girls, emailing and asking about their seeded position and then you will have some parents that will figure out who the person in charge is, and they will also email them to protest.
So I could see if they said, “here are the brackets, have fun in San Diego, and don’t bug us about seedings” 
Not trying to change it. Seeding for organizers would be easier if teams said “B team” is all.
All they have to do is just come here and take @Marco’s rankings and seed in that order. Easy peasy.
Good point. But @Marco will need to hustle up and do the ranking for boys and girls, across all age groups and divisions, so that nobody complains about favoritism and any age group.
Also we might as well see if he can also assign the referees to all the games, since we know some coaches don’t like certain reffs. 