Thread to discuss 18U Boys Junior Olympics
@Marco or others: any idea when rosters for session 2 are posted to the USAWP site? i saw JO Session 1 rosters were published before the tournament started, but haven’t seen it for Session 2…curious to see who is playing on some of the 18U teams
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Weird. I had thought they were already up but didn’t try the link until just now. I have the link and will post it in the general Session 2 thread.
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My predictions, often wrong, for the 2026 boys’ 18u age group follow below. The field is wide open after Newport Beach. My apologies to any athletes I should have mentioned. I will gladly correct any spelling or factual errors if they are brought to my attention.
Top 9
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Newport Beach. Newport Beach is Newport Harbor’s 2025 high school team without center/center defender Owen Marks (Newport Harbor Class of 2029, cadet national team), center defender/attacker Hudson Parks (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Navy), and LH attacker Declan Bartlett (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Navy). Even without these three players, I think Newport is the team to beat. They are led by, among others, goalie Connor Cougherty (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Santa Clara), goalie Lian Kim (Newport Harbor Class of 2027), center defender/attacker Fletcher Appeldorn (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, CMS), LH center Tyler Anderson (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, USC, youth national team, Anderson didn’t play for Newport Harbor), center Geoffrey Slutsky (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Harvard), LH attacker Mason Netzer (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Cal), Kai Kaneko (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Stanford, youth national team), Connor Ohl (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Stanford, junior national team, 19.90 and 44.32), Dash D’Ambrosia (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, UCSB), Marco Rizof (Newport Harbor Class of 2026, Santa Clara), Sean Anderson (Newport Harbor Class of 2028), Caruso Polenzani (Newport Harbor Class of 2028), and Curren Francisco (Newport Harbor Class of 2029). Anderson, Kaneko, and Ohl are three of the top five Class-of-2026 players.
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SD Dons. The SD Dons are Cathedral Catholic’s 2025 high school team without, among others, center Grayson Taylor (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2028, youth and cadet national teams), Cortez Chavez (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2029, cadet national team), goalie Oren Penning (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2026, Navy), and center defender Colin McPhail (Cathedral Catholic, Navy). Grayson Taylor and Chavez are playing for the United States in the 16u world championships. Penning and McPhail have already begun their basic training at the Naval Academy. The Dons are still loaded with talented players, including goalie Luke Anderson (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2027), goalie Hudson Koonings (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2029), center defender Jett Taylor (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2027, UCLA, youth national team), center/attacker Braylen Axline (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2027, Stanford, youth national team), LH attacker Eamon Bruhn (Cathedral Catholic class of 2027), Diego Dantas (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2028), Max Bruhn (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2028), Hudson Tweed (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2026, Bucknell), and Jack Davis (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2028). Jett Taylor and Axline are two of the top Class-of-2027 players. Best-case scenario: 2nd.
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CC United. CCU has four (4!) Class-of-2027 “Big 4” attackers, Ellis Culleton (Campolindo Class of 2027, Cal, 20.47 and 44.52), Will Maguy (Campolindo Class of 2027, Stanford), Brady Hassett (Miramonte Class of 2027, Cal), and Cade O’Hare (Campolindo Class of 2027, UCLA). CCU also features goalie Caden Keene (Miramonte Class of 2028), center defender Nic Austen (College Park Class of 2026, Stanford), center defender Anthony Nicholson (Monte Vista Class of 2027), center/center defender Hayden Tully (De La Salle Class of 2026, UCSB, MVP of the Quicksilver Tournament), center Griff Maclear (Miramonte Class of 2027), center Kourosh Koopah (Campolindo Class of 2027), LH attacker Mason Tunney (Miramonte Class of 2028), Tyce di Pretoro (De La Salle Class of 2026, Pepperdine), and Christo Decker (San Ramon Valley Class of 2027). CCU has one of the fastest clubs in the tournament. Culleton is probably the fastest swimmer in the tournament after Newport Beach’s Connor Ohl. Best-case scenario: 2nd.
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Lamorinda. Lamorinda, a very well-coached team, is led by, among others, goalie Jack Elder (Las Lomas Class of 2026, UCSD), goalie Xavi Ryder (Miramonte Class of 2027), center defender Jackson Cherry (Miramonte Class of 2026), center defender Michael Robinson (Miramonte Class of 2027), center Tristan Tucker (Miramonte Class of 2026, UCLA, youth national team), LH attacker Jack Elder (Campolindo Class of 2026, SJSU), LH attacker Tyler Williams (Miramonte Class of 2027), Brock Bliss (Miramonte Class of 2026, will attend the Naval Academy beginning in 2027), Trent Smith (Miramonte Class of 2027, UCLA), Grayson Bloes (Miramonte Class of 2027, 20.03 relay split), Evan Liberatore (San Ramon Valley Class of 2026, CMS), and Julius Martel (San Ramon Valley Class of 2026). Lamorinda has one of the fastest clubs in the tournament. Best-case scenario: 2nd.
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Trojan. Trojan, well coached by Erik Healy, is comprised mostly of players from Loyola and Mira Costa. They are led by, among others, 6’7” goalie Grant Anderson (Mira Costa Class of 2026, Cal Baptist), goalie Cooper Agens (Mira Costa Class of 2027, USC), Kai Nelson (Mira Costa Class of 2026, SJSU), center Lucas Pearce (Mira Costa Class of 2026, UCSD), LH attacker Caleb Yost (Loyola Class of 2026, Santa Clara), Flynn Guenther (Mira Costa Class of 2026, UCLA, youth national team), Grant He (Mira Costa Class of 2027), Adrian Senciac (Mira Costa Class of 2026, LBSU), and Ethan Eng (Loyola Class of 2027, Saint Mary’s). To finish in the top 8, I think Trojan must finish ahead of Mission and SOCAL in Group “N” play on Friday. Best-case scenario: 4th.
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CIU Gold Seniors. CIU Gold is comprised mostly of Class-of-2026 players from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles county high schools. They are led by, among others, goalie Mack Munger (Buena Class of 2026), goalie Adrian Ramirez (James Logan Class of 2025, LMU), center defender Ben Fuhrer (Dos Pueblos Class of 2026, LMU), center defender/attacker William Stuart (San Marcos Class of 2026, Pepperdine), center Ivan Khramtsov (Applewood Heights Secondary School in Canada, Pepperdine, various Canadian national teams), center Rigby Snapp (Ventura Class of 2026, Harvard), LH attacker Darion Wang (Oaks Christian Class of 2026, Santa Clara, Canadian youth national team), attacker/center defender Noah Loo (Westlake Class of 2026, UCSB), River Davis (Buena Class of 2026, UCI), Kane Fogg (Oaks Christian Class of 2026, Fordham), Christian Couch (Westlake Class of 2026, Iona), Wyatt Williamson (Oaks Christian Class of 2026, Cal, youth national team), Kai Johnson (Oaks Christian Class of 2025, Bucknell), Anden Valdez (Atascadero Class of 2026, UCI), and Ian Moore (Ventura Class of 2026, LMU). Best-case scenario: 4th.
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Atherton. Atherton, a very-well coached team, is Sacred Heart’s club team. At least for now, this will be the last year for Atherton. Beginning next year, most of the top Sacred Heart players will play for the Stanford Water Polo Club. Atherton is led by, among others, goalie Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka (Sacred Heart Class of 2026, will enter Harvard in the fall of 2027 after taking a gap year), goalie Wilkes Rohlen (Sacred Heart Class of 2028), center defender Charlie Baker (Sacred Heart Class of 2026, MIT), center/center defender Eddie Eiref (Sacred Heart Class of 2027, UCI), center Oliver Marcin (Sacred Heart Class of 2026, Princeton), LH attacker Clay Carrington (Sacred Heart Class of 2026, Harvard), Gates Gamble (Sacred Heart Class of 2027, Ivy League?), David Edelman (Sacred Heart Class of 2026, Johns Hopkins), Teddy Parrett (Sacred Heart Class of 2027, Johns Hopkins), and Charlie Wagner (Sacred Heart Class of 2027). Marcin and Carrington are two of the top players in the Class of 2026. They both chose an Ivy League school over a “Big” 4 school. Rohlen is one of the best goalies in the Class of 2028. Atherton doesn’t have as much depth as most of the other top clubs. They need to beat Greenwich in Group “K” play on Thursday to increase their chances of finishing in the top 8. That game could go either way. Best-case scenario: 5th.
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Greenwich. Greenwich is the strongest water polo club from outside of California. They are led by, among others, goalie Martin Robredo (Brunswick Class of 2027, played with CNAB’s youth team last year), center defender/center/attacker Neveh Yechiely (Brunswick Class of 2026, Brown), LH center/center defender/attacker Peter Saunders (Brunswick Class of 2027, Cal), LH attacker Jasper Hirt (Greenwich Class of 2026, Johns Hopkins), LH attacker Reed Keller (Brunswick Class of 2027), attacker/center defender Robert Norell (Greenwich Class of 2026, Brown), Yuval Galon (various Israeli national teams), Callum Holl (Brunswick Class of 2027), Jackson Shaw (Brunswick Class of 2028, youth national team), Roni Csendes (CSI Hungary, Brown, various Hungarian national teams), and Thomas Hua (Livingston Class of 2026, Occidental). Greenwich has excellent team speed. Shaw is one of the best players in the Class of 2028. Greenwich must beat Atherton on Thursday to win Group “K." Shot selection will be something to watch for Greenwich. Best-case scenario 5th.
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La Jolla United. La Jolla is seeded behind Corona del Mar in Group “E” but I give La Jolla the slight advantage. If La Jolla wins Group “E,” they will probably face CCU and AETOS in Group “P” play on Friday. That’s a tough group. La Jolla is led by, among others, goalie Jake Nielsen (Torrey Pines Class of 2026, Saint Mary’s), LH center Henry Glenister (La Jolla Class of 2027), LH attacker Dexter Black (La Jolla Class of 2027, Navy, youth national team), Quinn Daniels (La Jolla Class of 2027, USC), Levon Kevorkian (La Jolla Class of 2027, Pepperdine), Kai Lewis (Carlsbad Class of 2026, SJSU), and Oriol Sanchez Carrillo (CN Terrassa). Black is one of the four or five best Class-of-2027 players. Best-case scenario: 5th.
In no particular order, the other clubs in the mix include:
Stanford. The Pacific Zone has four really good 18u clubs this year: CC United, Lamorinda, Atherton, and Stanford. Stanford is missing center Hunter Coleman (Menlo Class of 2028, cadet national team). Coleman, one of the top three Class-of-2028 players, is playing for the United States in the 16u world championships. I would have picked Stanford to finish in the top 8 with Coleman. Without him, I don’t think they will finish in the top 9.
Mission. Mission is JSerra’s club team. Mission is well coached and full of talented younger players. I don’t think they will finish in the top 9 because they are missing three likely starters from JSerra’s 2026 high school team and the two best players from the 2025 high school team.
Corona del Mar. Corona del Mar is another team with many talented players. I didn’t pick them to finish in the top 9 because of injuries and uncertainty about whether some of the Class-of-2026 graduates will play.
SOCAL. SOCAL is a club with a great history. To finish in the top 9, I think they need to finish ahead of Trojan and Mission in Group “N” play on Friday. That won’t be easy.
LA Premier. LA Premier, very well coached, is Harvard-Westlake’s club team. I predict Harvard-Westlake will be a top 5 or 6 high school team in the fall. I didn’t pick them for my top 9 because their best player, center defender/center Harry Siafaris (Harvard-Westlake Class of 2027, USC, cadet national team) is playing with the United States in the 16u world championships and because many of their top players also play on LA Premier’s 16u team.
SD Shores. Three of San Diego Shores’ top players are playing for the United States in the 16u world championships.
AETOS. AETOS is Santa Margarita’s club team. Santa Margarita is a school to watch during the 2026 high school season.
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Hard to argue the rankings. The only change I have is I have SoCal lower. They lost some players during Futures and did not compete in Super Finals. Still a dangerous team but a bit lower IMO.
has anyone done any deep analysis of the bracket?
I remember last year to get to the semi finals, one would have to either go perfect or perhaps lose only 1 game across 4 days.
i also think there was a example of a team reaching the final four with two losses and teams in the 5-8 bracket with one loss, but that one loss was perhaps later in the tournament.
I’m not saying there is a better way I just was wondering if anyone else saw that last year or am I completely off base?
I don’t remember the team you are referring to, but it is technically possible in the 48-team bracket to lose two games and still win the National Championship. To do so would require going undefeated on day 1. In the upper platinum round-robin play on day 2, the team would need a loss a group where all three teams went 1-and-1, then advance as the top team of the group based on tie-breakers. If that team then lost their first game on day 3, then won every game after that, they’d be National Champions.
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I did a quick lookback and the 5-8 teams all had 3 or more losses where the top four teams: Team Vegas, San Diego Shores Black, Del Mar Blue, and CC United Black all had 2 or less losses
Some scores from Thursday’s action:
Atherton 17, Greenwich 15
NORCAL 11, SOCAL 4
La Jolla 17, Corona del Mar 8
AETOS 10, Pride 9
SD Shores 13, Trojan 7 (there goes my bracket)
Greenwich 19, Vanguard 12
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Some scores from Friday’s action:
La Jolla 14, AETOS 8
Lamorinda 13, Atherton 11
SD Shores 15, NorCal 12
Trojan 15, SOCAL 7
Greenwich 12 SHAQ 7
Newport 13, CIU Seniors 6
Pride 13 CdM 9
CCU 17, AETOS 10
SD Dons 11, Atherton 5
SD Shores 10, Mission 6
Trojan 9.3, CIU (not the Seniors) 9.1
CIU Seniors 10, Stanford 7
Greenwich 16, North Irvine Black 13
CCU 15, La Jolla 14
Lamorinda 9.5, SD Dons 9.4
Stanford 17, Newport 8
AETOS 13.8, Trojan 13.7
Atherton 17, LA Premier 16
Pride 13.3, Mission 13.2
Greenwich 19, CIU Seniors 16
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Many thanks for the updates, @jeff Seems the “hot results” is about 90 minutes off and the google/msft spreadsheets are also delayed.
What happened with Newport losing so badly to Stanford? And what is the order of group M
That’s such a big upset I can’t help but wonder if they made an error and reversed the scores. Someone’s gotta know…
CIU Seniors will crossover with greenwich tonight. Newport goes to 5-8 v 9-12 tomorrow and will need to win out to make the final. Stanford makes the 1-2 v 3-4 tomorrow. I watched the live stream, unless caps were switched Stanford won handily.
Wow. That is huge. So if Stanford is in 1-4 group, that means they’ve been undefeated to this point, right? That’s really impressive without Coleman. Stanford 18u doing some work this summer! Stanford in general is having a really great summer
What happened to North Irvine? Huge fall from grace with the triple crown victories of 2025. They should have had to qualify with everyone else, would be interesting to see where they would have actually landed. Got to hear a few parents after their loss talking about low standards and finishing practices after 1.5 hours as a norm. Kinda thought that to be extremely disrespectful to the sport, the tournament and teams they are competing against. That team had all the makings for another run at it(albeit as an underdog), Would have been interesting to see what Adam and Ed could have put together with the national team experiences and all.
Also found out their Red team was literally thrown together a couple weeks before and made up of non club playing HS players who with the exception of a couple players, look out of shape and a few that could be playing on a 16U team.
How is this growing the sport?
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I’m so angry at you guys for making me doubt Stanford and drop them in my rankings. 
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wp2024,
Group “M” order:
- Stanford
- Newport
- CIU Seniors
Stanford beat Newport by 8 and lost to CIU
Seniors by 3. Stanford has a very good Class-of-2026 goalie (Alejandro Cheline), a Fordham commit. I won’t be surprised if he starts for Fordham at some point during the college season.
Newport beat CIU Seniors by 7.
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They also looked very ready to play and countered very well. Great shooters on the outside and a very cohesive team.
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That Stanford win was huge some great goalie work in the first and second half. One of the best goalie rotations in the country with Alejandro and Ari. What an incredible upset.
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