Fair. Sorry, was making a bold assumption that the girls side was similar to the boys side. I did say “might” in the post.
Speaking of Socal girls, what happened to their 12U team? They were a pretty solid team last year and I havent heard anything about them this season
Coaches drain. Lots of established socal girls coaches left the club in the past couple years and haven’t been adequately replaced.
At 2025 NJO, Socal 12u girls finished 28th (4th in Gold). Last year that Socal 12u girls had a very solid team was 2023 when they finished 5th in Platinum. They were the third best team in SPA, behind Patriot and Newport. That year, SPA had another good team- Vanguard. Since then Vanguard stopped fielding girls teams altogether and Socal became much weaker…
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This is all fantastic information. Any takers for doing this for 10U Girls? 
Thanks, and 10u Girls is the top of post #5 in this thread.
Here is what I’ve got for 18uG:
I do not have the finishing order for MDW or HAW although I do know the teams. Additionally, this bracket will not precisely match the 06/04 allocations due to the team from SEZ backing out of Session I after 06/04. The slot was reallocated to SPA.
LB Viking beating Santa Barbara A that only had like 8 or 9 girls at the quals game and getting the #5 seed and Santa Barbara A who has now won both Super Finals and USCC is relegated to the #11 seed has HUGE implications and also screws Santa Barbara B who is fantastic but now has to play their A team on Day 1. Unbelievable. Huge benefit to Lamo and 680 who no longer have to face SB A on Day two and brutal for So Cal A and SD Shores A on Day 2.
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Wow, SBWPC A starting from #11 seed is crazy. JOs Qualification tournaments can be brutal !!!
A similar situation occurred for 16u girls with Stanford. They won the cal cup state champs, norcal futures and placed 3rd at superfinals, but at the pac zone quals, they ended up in 6th place after losing to Lamo, 680 and SHAQ. Looking at Marco’s seeding for 16u, that means Stanford is the #23 seed for JOs, and the would play #2 seed SBWPC A for their second game of JOs. Certainly a tough draw for both of those teams.
Yeah, this does tend to happen from time to time and it’s actually unfortunate for the other clubs not for the club that got the lower seed
This is the byproduct of how the seeding works based on the previous years results which is just odd and it’s one of the few cases where SPA actually gets harmed more than other zones.
But the balancing act is that those teams with lower seeds and a lot of talent tend to take over the #4, 3, 2 positioning by the end of day 2 anyway. They simply replace the team that is there by beating them and it all sort of evens out
The real bummer is when you realize that you have a top four team in your bracket all the way down at number 10 to 15 and now you have to face them and lose your bracket status and road to the end.
I believe that is what they call a lucky draw or a group of death in World Cup soccer
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. It has that look evolve There are some grinder teams in SPA zone. Diablo was where I had my 4 spot for JO. I’m going Newport #1 for sure, Patriot/908 toss up. CHAWzp was a surprise. Patriot barely won that game for 1st/2nd place. Game rest got the best of CHAWP for 3rd place (back to back games). It looked like Patriot had their full roster minus 1 to worlds(I think). Diablo can be beaten. JO placement More pronounced because of Worlds impact
For teams that have people on the cadet worlds team are they allowing any limited roster changes for JOs or are things locked to the original quals lineup. Less of an issue for a field player, but it could create a significant issue for a goalie.
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Coaches knew going into it this was a possibility and adjusted in advance of Quals
I thought I saw 16U girls a couple of days ago but it’snot up anymore?
Bar, If we are talking about the 14u games from SPA at US Clubs?
San Clemente was missing 1-2
908 is down their worlds attacker and one at US
Newport and Patriot were actually playing their 7th graders mostly at US Club as is common in these tourneys to get them more reps. Newport removed 4 starters and Patriot 3 (plus the Worlds player who is gone for JO). Both Newport and Patriot didn’t have their lefties if I recall. San Clemente did not have their MVP player from 12U JO but other than that, same team.
I don’t follow the Northern California teams so I don’t know about Diablo or Stanford.
If any team played those teams, they got the lighter version. I think that’s why we saw Newport and San Clemente falter so much.
Regarding game rest, all the teams played the same rest in the final four. Both of the semifinals are at 8 AM. Conditioning is a huge part of winning the big games too. Close 1-2 point games come down to better coaches and better goalie and sometimes better conditioning.
I think the one I wish I saw was the Diablo versus Stanford Because anytime you see a 5-3 final, You want to see what they did, if it was solid defense or just a mix of stalemate offense with lots of bars.
I don’t put a lot of stock value in US club championship tourney rosters because unlike super finals, it always seems like for the girls at this age, the tournament is not taken as seriously by SPA club coaches/directors. Maybe they don’t want to tip their hand. With Super finals the weekend before, the games were far better attended, and the rosters were more stacked. Plus, they do the finals way better with intros, music, streaming, and hype and those banners they give out are really cool. If I’m being honest, Super finals was where there was really high-level Water Polo at both the 14 and 16 range, But US club kind of felt like scrimmages with teams experimenting and giving more reps to their youngers. Good development though and doesn’t take away from the podium finishers. Still gotta win!
I think it’s clear until something happens, Superfinals Is the superior pre-JO tournament measuring stick and all teams should definitely enter that one over US Clubs if they want to be tested. Playing Futures is essential imho.
In terms of JO, it’s wide-open with all the top players gone off the top four teams. It definitely levels. The plane feel quite a bit and I expect to see a lot of close games amongst the final 10.
It wouldn’t surprise me if San Clemente finish second or 10th, Same with 908 or Patriot or Diablo or Santa Cruz Or any of those teams. Because of the parity that exist among 2nd through 10th, And teams literally losing their top scorers and top goalie and the way tournament, brackets work, They are going to be a few teams that finish lower And can beat teams that finish higher, but they avoid each other by luck of the draw.
If Newport doesn’t win 14U girls, it would be unbelievable. It is very possible and likely that some unfortunate team has to face them in the semifinals or quarterfinals and gets bounced out prematurely. What you actually want is to play them in the Early day 4 game so that you can battle back after on the opposite side
Then again fighting for third place could be the most fun since you get to win your last game
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Good analysis. My grand daughter plays for Shores SD. Mitch is a good guy, but they just got beat by CHAWP fair and square. I got to see the San Clemente game. I know the head coach pretty well. He told me he was missing only 1 girl. He said that he was beat and it wouldn’t have most likely mattered. He mentioned there were a few girls on that CHAWP team that were just hard to stop. I tip my hat to that little I.E team. They are thin, but fierce. To be fair from your post, Patriot was not playing any youngers, but they were missing a lefty. Patriot also did have a lefty, but so did the CHAWP group. Patriot in my opinion is playing their girls hard. The upcoming holiday will help all these girls. I hope most clubs give them the rest they deserve. Patriot had a tough game from 908 too. What I think happened to Patriot is I think they were sleeping on the CHAWP squad, or CHAWP made some adjustments because they have seen each other a few times this year. All in all nice weekend. Futures is a great tournament and it is looking like the better tournament. I am hesitant to state it will last as long as USCC at this point. If I’m not mistaken, Futures is still not sanctioned by USAWP?
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You def know a lot about Chawp?l! 
Are you sure you don’t have someone there too? 
Looking at the roster for US club championships, San Clemente was missing one, Newport 4-5, and Patriot was missing 3 starters all of whom were at June Camp NTSC but not at US Club Champ tourney. I don’t know about you but missing starters that were at June Camp ODP means they were impact players and certainly makes a difference and whoever replaced them was the youngers or B team such as Newport.
Looking at the roster for San Clemente, they were missing one of their two players from June camp and it doesn’t take anything away from any victory, but if you look at how San Clemente finished, they lost games that they never lose to all the other teams not just Chawp. For example, do you really think Newport loses to all those teams if they have their roster? US club is not the same tournament as Super finals for a reason and it’s no surprise that the only teams that sent everybody was Stanford and Diablo because it’s a Travel tournament and they finish 2nd and 3rd or the teams that did not play Superfinals.
As a former coach myself. there’s no way Matt believes one player like the one missing has zero impact on a game; but that doesn’t mean he would ever take anything away from a team by saying otherwise.
This also doesn’t take anything away from Patriot who won or the teams that did well because you can only beat and play the teams that are in front of you, but the rosters show that these were not the JO qual rosters and there’s nothing wrong with that because that helps all players get better and time to play with each other. It’s up to the coaches to decide how they want to play each tournament. Do you know how psyched those younger were to get all that playing time in big games??? Stanford beating Diablo might’ve been their equivalent of a gold medal game given their history and you better probably believe those girls were super excited to get the job well done.
In 14U, missing 1 top player certainly affects games missinf 2-3? Absolutely
What I know based on rosters posted:
San Clemente = Missing 1 NTSC/June camp player who is a huge part of their offense
Shores = None as far as I can tell
Lamo = 1 (their National Cadet team goalie) who greatly affected their team
Patriot = 3 starters missing 2 NTSC/June camp players and 1 worlds. Surprised they won tbh
Chawp = none
Diablo = none
Stanford = none
Any others I am missing?
Newport = 5 starters played up to 16-18U including one Worlds and their dominant center and two shooters and their goalie were all missing.
I stand by the comment that any of the top Teams can beat each other at JOs and that Superfinals was a better measuring stick than US Club Champs for atmosphere, competition level, and being taken more seriously by the programs prior to JO’s. If clubs want to get onboard, they need to play futures to get ready, that much is clear. Final 4 will be a mix of talent and bracket good fortune and a few close games along the way. Last year San Clemente won 12U Platinum JO and were the 4th or 5th best team all year. They did not suddenly figure it out. It’s just why they play the games and a couple of shootouts and bracket trickle down will certainly help at least 1-2 teams. Best to just enjoy it.
This is still very much the non-ego fun age of Water Polo and probably the last time before it starts to get a little bit too intense for many parents (though some people here are proving me wrong ) It’s the last time for a while that a lot of weird games can happen and that’s what makes it so dang fun and I definitely think your Chawp team to finish top 4 and SD Shores and one of them to beat San Clemente to challenge and if things continue the way they are, I think San Clemente will falter to 6th or below.
Think of it this way. At JO’s, let’s say that Chawpe and your team SD Shores rematch with your GD, the team that loses the one point game previously usually ends up winning the game the next time. If that were to happen, it completely changes the trajectory of the losing team. If those two teams face, whoever wins the one point game is going to have a far different path than the other. Trying to predict who wins that game is impossible, but it will sure as heck be fun and I know Shores will be ready. Isn’t that fun?
It’s like trying to win and predict 4 coin flips in a row
Let’s see! Does it really matter?
Can I ask since you said your granddaughter plays for Shores, why on earth were you up at a 7 AM semifinal game between two other teams? And how do you know so much about Chawp? Many of your posts talk about Chawp or the coach and even trying to give “credit” to Chawp beating Shores and playing other teams
Something doesn’t add up here. I think it’s kind of obvious, but I can’t believe someone would concoct an entire story fishing, but here we are. Weird.
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