Nevertheless, big congratulations to USC and Coach Casey Moon. I think it’s time to give Casey his flowers. I have a feeling a lot of people don’t recognize him as a top coach (if I remember correctly nobody picked him on the forum’s fantasy draft for this year) but he had his teams performing on the big stage and executing when it mattered the most. He now gets to join a list with the likes of Jovan, Krikorian, and JT in winning a national championship in a non-olympic year. Not bad company to keep 
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Big congrats to USC and head coach Casey Moon on winning the championship. They definitely earned it by beating a very good UCLA team and a peaking Cal team. I thought USC got screwed years ago with a phantom penalty call when he was the interim head coach and lost to Stanford in the finals… good to see him and the team get one.
Anna Reed balled out and was the difference maker. Goalie is the most important position and can really be the X factors in champ games. Cal had some great looks they just missed or Reed made a big clutch save.
Also congrats to Cal on making it to the championship game. Since I’ve been watching water polo that semi win over Stanford is their biggest win I’ve seen. They definitely should be proud of their season
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You should try a Superbox…
Just an FYI, USA Water Polo pays for the production of the championship to put the game on television with the goal to increase exposure for the sport as much as possible. There are also many international outlets where ESPNU is available.
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Just wanted to share The Local in Pacific Beach hosted a watch party for fans who didn’t have tickets to the game. In Long Beach the Watch Me sports bar has shown the final in recent years as well.
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It was a fun end to the season…it is always great to see some upsets and a very high level of play from all four semi-finalists! Congrats to USC.
I know that some corners of this board like to throw shade at the concept of a “Big Four”, but it seems if a team can make the final in 2 out of 3 years they are probably in the conversation…unless one subscribes to the concept that olympic years are somehow “less than”. In that case, I’m more than happy to see the Laker’s “Bubble Title” erased from the record books
Those that were able to get the game felt like the coverage did not match Overnght from a video clarity stand point - it was fun to have Gilchrist on the mic.
We had multiple international families in our orbit that could not get the game live. It’s just a shame. Why put it up on NCAA.com for all games EXCEPT for the Final??? Someone needs to open up that contract with ESPN.
AND now, you STILL can’t see the full game on NCAA.com - absolutely ridiculous.
I believe it was posted that USA Water Polo pays ESPN in order to get more viewers on television. That is great, but I would guess VAST majority of people now have smart TV’s and could just throw it up in a browser or Youtube in the future and use the money for promoting the game vs the high $$ for ESPN.
Totally missing the points. Oversea access is missing and shouldn’t they post ALL games in the tournament, not everything but the final?!? Such an entitled response.
Geez chill
Polofan was agreeing with you to stream it on NCAA or YT rather than ESPN
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I am entitled to watching free water polo on Youtube.
There is zero obligation to make NCAA sports available for free to foreign countries. They could have signed up for an espn plus account (possibly even a free trial) and then cancelled.
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With a VPN it is , otherwise espn plus is geo blocked to US and US territories.
Just like several of the European streaming services that show polo.
Oh man free tuition, Room and board and all expenses paid! But parents can’t watch?
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It is not NCAA nor USAWP job, to promote and grow the sport outside the US. For international families, all it takes is for a parent that is there in person, to have a phone or iPad, and broadcast on Facebook Live
VPN is very easy to do. If there’s a will there’s a way
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All NCAA tourney games are on the NCAA YouTube channel, the final should be posted there sometime soon. https://www.youtube.com/@NCAAChampionships/videos
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Here’s the full replay of the NCAA Championship
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mambapolo: I agree with you about Cal at this time. Even though they have not won a National Championship, they have made 2 of the last three NCAA Finals and deserve to be in the discussion as being part of the Big 4 this year.
Though the rankings really do not matter beyond #1, they are fun to look at. Regarding Cal, I am not sure I would rank them #2 this year as the CWPA did. Since no Big 4 school lost to anyone outside of themselves, it is interesting to look at their records against each other:
USC 7-3
Cal 1-8
UCLA 4-5
Stanford 6-2
I am also not sure how UCLA and Stanford are tied for #3 since Stanford had a better record than UCLA, including going 3-0 head to head.
Anyways, here are the final CWPA rankings for 2026:
1 University of Southern California
2 University of California
3 (T) University of California-Los Angeles
3 (T) Stanford University
5 (T) Arizona State University
5 (T) University of Hawaii
7 (T) Loyola Marymount University
7 (T) Long Beach State University
9 Harvard University
10 (T) University of California-Irvine
10 (T) Princeton University
10 (T) Indiana University
13 Fresno State University
14 University of California-Davis
15 University of Michigan
16 (T) San Diego State University
16 (T) University of California-San Diego
18 (T) San Jose State University
18 (T) Wagner College
20 Marist University
Of course that’s the case. The majority of chat here is about the top 4 or 5. Great players in mid level teams don’t even get mentioned. Darcy spark at SJSU 92 goals on the year, against MPSF teams. 21 assists, 38 steals, 35 drama exclusions and not a mention. Is is any wonder these players transfer out
Gonna call BS on this one Honey. Although I’m sure Darcy is a fine player, comparing her to the top MPSF players is silly. She did not score 92 goals against MPSF teams. The majority of their games were against non-MPSF teams, and if you look at her stats, they were significantly lower against the big four teams (probably an average of one goal per game). The systems the big 4 teams use are very different than the lower tier teams. Unless you are an Emily Ausmus, the scoring is typically distributed much more evenly. Look at Millie Quinn - didn’t do much at Cal her Freshman year, then stats went through the roof at ASU. They let her take the majority of shots / 5 meters etc. Same with Dhalluin - had crazy stats at ASU then went to Stanford and was in the middle of the pack in terms of stats, even though she is one of the top players in the MPSF. Can’t compare stats across teams. If you want to be talked about as one of the top players, you really do need to be on a top four team and prove yourself among the best of the best.