NCAA men 2026 Season

Herzer must have gotten the starting goalie position over his kid or something in 14U. :laughing:

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Because we all know the 5m penalty is an offensive main course whereas 6v5, and natural goals account for very little.

I think everyone knows the list is a joke and that this is a desperate attempt to make it show that the sport is growing outside California. The unwritten rule for the cutino winner is on the winning team at the end of the season and/or will be an Olympian.

With that said, this is more of a compliment to those teams than a diss. Shows they have a collection of players and not just a stand alone guy. Usually when everyone on your team has the play style of a role player you tend to get the cleanest style of water polo. That’s because it’s easier to get everyone to buy in to the team, and play with a “nothing to lose” mentality. With UCI you probably make the case that Francisco is their best player. However, I don’t think you could pinpoint who “the guy” is on Princeton and UCSD.

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You clearly have something against him personally. You’ve made that obvious. Herzer is a fantastic goalie and keeps getting better.

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Fordham is in a good position but that Princeton/Navy doubleheader will be hard. Even if the games are on Rose Hill (in front of what will likely be a packed house).

To me what makes 10/10 so important is because that second game against Princeton is literally walking into a Tiger’s Den. Princeton is 11-1 and playing Fordham home and home gives them a real chance at the four seed. The Princeton home game is going to be one of the great water polo watches of the year. I can only assume the game was put at 6:00 on a Friday night to ensure a huge student turnout.

On Luca, I would note he is playing a facilitator role. I bet he ends up with over 100 assists again. He is a Captain and I think he does a good job of getting guys involved. What was interesting about this weekend was the defense outpaced the offense. I did not see that coming.

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Good take re seeding. Princeton has a lot more work to do if they want to play a non big four team in the first round of NCAAs for the first time since 2023. They may need to take one of the two against Fordham.

But more importantly, they need to do very well in their second CA trip (which includes a game at Pacific and the Julian Fraser Memorial tournament, where they play UC Davis, CBU, and Santa Clara) and not drop any games against Brown or Harvard.

In another season, it may be okay to drop one conference game, but considering Harvard is 3-9 and has a loss to Concordia, and Brown has a loss to Fullerton, so losses to either team could be detrimental to Princeton.

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Just like the NCAA Championship the Cutino award winner will be from the Big 4 players. The non-Big 4 players on the list are just window dressing.

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Pretty crazy to see UCI at No.6 in this week’s poll. I do like how the voters kept LBSU above Pacific. It’s easy to look at Pacific and say they’ve only lost to 1-5 and beat everyone else, so they belong at 6, but the eye test and how they’ve looked in those losses do not reflect that.

My problem with the CWPA poll has always been that it is too reactive and based off one week of results. There is no way on earth that any sane individual can put Pepperdine over UCSD at the moment. UCSD is 2-0 against Pepperdine and has a win over UCI and a sudden-death overtime loss to LBSU. One loss to LMU should not bump them below Pepperdine.

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Yea that is wild. UCSD has beat Pepperdine twice and has a win over UCI. Pepp and SD are both 0-1 vs LMU. Pepp’s best win is UCSB. There is no justification for Pepp being ahead of SD

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UCI jumps up to #6 after a good win against #14 then 1 goal wins against #15 and #18 and UCSD drops behind 2 teams that they have the head to head advantage. This is highway robbery. :rofl:

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It is suspect. Atleast it doesn’t mean anything.

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Best I can say is the coaches’ heads are spinning. They don’t have the time to think this thru. That said the parity is great. 5-18 will be a wild ride thru the end of the season.

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PP up 4-3 @ CMS at half

6 goal 4th quarter for the win for Pomona! Great game.

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So Pepperdine, who is 6-9, has one game they lose of course since UCLA, and they move up 2 spots? Yeah right. LMU and UCSD are obvious choices there. But a few other teams went undefeated last weekend and dropped? Some with ranked wins.

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Shout out to Alex Lopez for being named Big West Player of the Week! Former Mt. Sac Mountie!!!

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I was at this game last night. It was an electric atmosphere, really a spirited match for both the teams and the fans. There’s something special about a night game for a big DIII rivalry. It was a great experience

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My kids love attending these games. Can’t wait for the next one on 11/4

That was my first time, hopefully not my last. I know this is old news but I was really impressed with the level of play from both teams. Strong defense, great goalies, impressive 2m play, just an all-around fun evening of water polo.

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Big games this weekend, put your live reactions here:
https://waterpoloexchange.com/chat/c/watch-party-oct-3-4-weekend/183

:slight_smile:

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