# 2026 Women's College Draft **URL:** \ **Category:** College - Women\ **Created:** [January 9, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090 "2026-01-09T23:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/1 "2026-01-09T23:40:36Z")
We will start our 2026 women’s college draft next week. We have room for 2 or 3 more participants. If you follow the women’s college game closely and wish to participate in the draft, please send me a message offline. ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 4:47pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/2 "2026-01-11T16:47:13Z")
It’s time for our annual women’s college draft. The objective of the draft is for participants to select the best teams they can, while recognizing some of the top college players. Each participant must select a coach, a goalie, a center, a center defender, and four other field-position players. The coach must be an active head coach of an American women’s college, junior college, or high school team. To be eligible as a player, an individual must be on the roster of a four-year American college team. When you make a selection, please list the player’s name, the school the player attends, and the player’s position. When you make your final selection, please note which school you think will win the NCAA championship, which schools will finish in the top four, which players will be Cutino Award finalists, which player will win the Cutino Award, which player will be named the MPSF newcomer of the year, and which coach will be named the ACWPC coach of the year. Here is the draft order for the odd rounds of the draft: 1. ehpolo4 2. swimcoach 3. BB70 4. Oldschoolpolofan 5. retiredguy 6. Limey 7. Jeff The order will be reversed in the even rounds of the draft. ehpolo4 is on the clock with the first pick of the 2026 draft, followed by swimcoach and BB70. ---
**Author:** ![ehpolo4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@ehpolo4](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/ehpolo4)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/3 "2026-01-11T17:13:12Z")
Happy Draft Day! First Pick is 1. Christine Carpenter, Goalkeeper, Stanford Emerged as a major contender for the Cardinal in 2025 and part of the Junior World Championship team last summer, she has great IQ, mobility, and outlet passing. I’m a firm believer in defense, so this was a natural first pick for me ---
**Author:** ![swimcoach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@swimcoach](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/swimcoach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/4 "2026-01-11T17:19:16Z")
1. Emily Ausmus, Att, USC. There is a reason why Ausmus was a Cutino finalist last season. She is fast, an exceptional defender, dished out 55 assists last year and, most importantly, can score. She tallied 114 goals last year and shot better than 60%. ---
**Author:** ![BB70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@BB70](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/BB70)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/5 "2026-01-11T17:25:05Z")
1. Sienna Green-2M, Stanford Long and athletic…strong defensive presence. ---
**Author:** ![Oldschoolpolofan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Oldschoolpolofan](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Oldschoolpolofan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/6 "2026-01-11T17:32:51Z")
1. Jenna Flynn - Att - Stanford ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/7 "2026-01-11T18:03:10Z")
retiredguy asked me to post his selection for him. He selected: Team 5 5. Serena Browne, center defender, Stanford Limey is on the clock. ---
**Author:** ![Limey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/waterpoloexchange.com/limey/32/108_2.png) [@Limey](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Limey)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/8 "2026-01-11T18:08:51Z")
Team “Both Coasts” 1. Lauren Steele, goalie, UCLA ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/9 "2026-01-11T18:23:57Z")
Team 7: TBD 7. Anna Pearson, center, UCLA. Pearson is a 3x All-American and 2x 1st team All-American. 8. Emma Lineback, LH attacker, UCLA. Lineback is a 2x All-American and member of the senior national team. Limey is on the clock, followed by retired guy and Oldschoolpolo fan. ---
**Author:** ![Limey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/waterpoloexchange.com/limey/32/108_2.png) [@Limey](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Limey)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:25pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/10 "2026-01-11T18:25:56Z")
1. Rachel Gazzaniga, Utility, USC. Rachel is strong as both a defender and center. ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/11 "2026-01-11T19:15:32Z")
retiredguy is on the road and asked me to post his next pick. Team 5: 5. Serena Browne, center defender, Stanford 10. Ella Woodhead, center/center defender, Stanford Oldschoolpolofan is on the clock, followed by BB70 and swimcoach. ---
**Author:** ![Oldschoolpolofan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Oldschoolpolofan](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Oldschoolpolofan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/12 "2026-01-11T19:25:48Z")
Team 4 4. Jenna Flynn - Att - Stanford 11. Juliette Dhalluin - LH Att - Stanford ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/13 "2026-01-11T19:40:27Z")
BB70 is on the road and asked me to post his next selection. Team 3 3. Sienna Green - 2MD, Stanford. Long and athletic…strong defensive presence. 12. Bia Mantellato - 2M, UCLA swimcoach is on the clock, followed by ehpolo4 with two picks. ---
**Author:** ![swimcoach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@swimcoach](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/swimcoach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/14 "2026-01-11T19:51:24Z")
This is already getting tough. All of my top picks at center defenders are gone, along with my lefties, centers and goalies. Three Stanford center defenders in the first 10 picks. That has to be some sort of record. Team 2 2. Emily Ausmus, Att, USC 13. Alma Yaacobi, 2M, USC. Yaacobi has some big shoes to fill, but she definitely has the talent to do it. She scored 43 goals last year as a backup to Kearns. She could double that output this year as the starting center. ---
**Author:** ![ehpolo4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@ehpolo4](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/ehpolo4)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/15 "2026-01-11T21:54:31Z")
Apologies on the delay, here are my picks! 1. Quinn Healy, Stanford 2. Lucy Haaland-Ford, Stanford Both technically rostered as 2M Defenders, with Lucy having a solid post up game and outside shot scoring 4 out the US’s 16 goals to beat Spain in the finals ---
**Author:** ![swimcoach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@swimcoach](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/swimcoach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/16 "2026-01-11T22:22:11Z")
Team 2 2. Emily Ausmus, Att, USC. 13. Alma Yaacobi, 2M, USC. 16. Ava Stryker, Att, USC. Really good shooters are few and far between and I would put Stryker it the top tier right after Flynn and Ausmus. Stryker scored 72 goals last year to go along with 48 assists. As you can tell, I think that USC is going to score a lot of goals this year. ---
**Author:** ![BB70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@BB70](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/BB70)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 10:54pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/17 "2026-01-11T22:54:35Z")
Taylor Smith-Attacker UCLA Fast, great shooter! ---
**Author:** ![Oldschoolpolofan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Oldschoolpolofan](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Oldschoolpolofan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 11:04pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/18 "2026-01-11T23:04:03Z")
Team 4 4. Jenna Flynn - Att - Stanford 11. Juliette Dhalluin - LH Att - Stanford 18. Maggie Hawkins - 2M - Stanford ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/19 "2026-01-11T23:46:22Z")
retiredguy is on the road and asked me to post his next pick. Team 5: 5. Serena Browne, center defender, Stanford 10. Ella Woodhead, center/center defender, Stanford 19. Ema Vernoux, attacker, Hawaii Limey is on the clock. ---
**Author:** ![Limey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/waterpoloexchange.com/limey/32/108_2.png) [@Limey](https://waterpoloexchange.com/u/Limey)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090/20 "2026-01-11T23:55:07Z")
Team “Both Coasts” (Not just the West Coast!) 6- Lauren Steele, goalie, UCLA 9- Rachel Gazzaniga, Center, USC: Rachel is strong as both a defender and center. 20- Niki Piovan, defender, Harvard: 2025 CWPA Rookie Of the Year and Greece Junior National Team member [Next page](https://waterpoloexchange.com/t/2026-womens-college-draft/2090.md?page=2)