Pacific Cup Draw was just posted at the below:
The side with Stanford, USC, Fordham and Team USA is a gauntlet with Stanford-USC paired off in the first round.
Wondering why SC and Stanford would play each other in the first round?
Is the USA team made up of junior or youth players? Or a combination?
2008 and younger youth. It’s the team competing for spots for the youth world championship team this summer.
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Last year it was a random draw, so I assume the same this year.
The draw is randomized and is a blind draw selection process to determine the bracket.
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I realize this is an off season event that means nothing, but the blind draw serves no purpose. UCLA is spending money to go to this and they are going to breeze to the final. Im sure they’d rather have 2 difficult games instead of 1
I agree that the blind draw is an odd feature
If nothing else perhaps it’s a statistical way to improve the hosts outcome?
If this was true, UOP wouldn’t have ended up in a bracket with UCLA, Stanford and CAL in 2025…. They would have the easier route to the final every year.
These are narrow minded thoughts and opinions with now value in how to make things more exciting and grow the sport. If UCLA and teams wanted if different they wouldn’t accept the invite each year to play. Learn to think outside of the box and add valuable opinions that that help grow what is thought to be a dying sport.
First of all, how is the sport dying? Keep in mind we’re talking specifically about college in this thread, where a program was just added (St Mary’s). Maybe I’m missing something there….rhetorical question since it’s a separate topic anyway.
Second of all, you don’t get to dictate what opinions anyone has to have here. It’s not anyone’s job here to grow the sport or make it more exciting with super valuable opinions. We’re just shootin’ the breeze.
Third of all, I don’t think a blind draw is exciting at all. If you do, then good for you!
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[welp. on personal privilege.]
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Remember back in 2024, one of Graham’s infamous demands in order for UoP to play in the MPSF Invite was that tournament seedings be a blind draw.
You can hear him talk about it here at right around the 1hr 3min mark…
We all know how well that worked out for him.
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Haha just shootin’ the gentle wind here
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I love the idea of the tournament, the unique qualities of the set up with the beer garden, and the overall promotion of it. Simply put, its good for the game.
Doesn’t mean that I have to agree with the random draw format, but c’est la vie.
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Graham and UOP put on an outstanding event and if you can ever catch at game at Pacific, I highly suggest it.
Something else to consider, these teams are not what you’re used to seeing given the time of year and current conflicts.
Due to the date overlap with World Cup Qualifiers, Id expect a whole host of players to be missing from Stanford, USC, UCLA and Fordham. This will create a rather exciting set of games in a far more level playing field where MPSF teams dont go 18 players deep against a WCC team going 9-10 players deep.
Likely key players missing due to world cup qualifiers: Gheorghe (Stanford - Romania), Nelson, Mills (USC - USA), Kojic (Fordham - Serbia), Castillo, Dodd, Liechty, Brinkema (UCLA - USA).
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The teams that accept the invite all know how this tournament draw is set up and honestly it adds to the intrigue and excitement of where you end up. They all know it will be a really cool tournament set up by UOP. They really get behind their water polo up there and create a great environment. Should be a fun competition and the blind draw adds to that fun.
To add to the excitement, they should do another blind draw, to see which coach will lead which team 
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Rosters are out. See the below link. UCLA and USC are definitely missing key guys. Stanford and Fordham look strong on paper.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWmkUQUko37/?igsh=ZHJyaXdhZ28zcmNh
I want to encourage folks in Northern California to get out to Stockton tomorrow to watch some really good teams play in this tournament. $30 for 8 games is a great deal!
| Sat, April 11 | Times | Games | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | 10 a.m. | Stanford vs. USC | Watch |
| Game 2 | 11:15 a.m. | Fordham vs. USA YNT | Watch |
| Game 3 | 12:30 p.m. | UCLA vs. UC Davis | Watch |
| Game 4 | 1:45 p.m. | Pacific vs. San Jose State | Watch |
| Game 5 | 3 p.m. | Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 | Watch |
| Game 6 | 4:15 p.m. | Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 | Watch |
| Game 7 | 5:30 p.m. | Loser G3 vs. Loser G4 | Watch |
| Game 8 | 6:45 p.m. | Winner G3 vs. Winner G4 |
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We have a pretty awesome semifinal on tap tonight. Stanford over USC 15-11 and Fordham over Team USA 18-14 sets up a nice matchup. Both teams brought pretty stout squads to this event.
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