Water Polo wins second straight CWPA Championship
It was looking like a championship weekend coming in with just one real hurdle to clear.
Michigan's conference rival #21 Hartwick on Saturday.
After the #6 Wolverines beat up Bucknell 16-4, they took on their toughest test on the conference schedule. They prevailed 13-11. Every time Hartwick scored to get closer, Michigan had an answer.
Today Michigan could claim their second straight CWPA Championship with one win, win it outright with two wins.
There really wasn't any doubt here that it would happen. Michigan roughed up George Washington, a team U-M is 15-0 against all-time, by the score of 20-2.
Ali Thomason netted a hat trick in the first quarter, and Kim Johnson led Michigan in goals with four today to clinch at least a share of the conference title.
Michigan took on terrible Brown at 2:20 and easily disposed of them. Ali Thomason had another first quarter hat trick and that was that. Wolverines led 8-1 at halftime and cruised to an 18-3 romp.
Michigan wins the CWPA Championship with a perfect 7-0 record.
Most importantly, they are the 1 seed in the CWPA Tournament in two weeks at Cambridge. The CWPA is a one-bid league, and the winner of that tournament will go to the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan is seeking their first crown since 2010.
They'll face either George Washington or Connecticut College in the CWPA Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday, 4/29 at 6pm.
Want some storyline? If you read Endzone, Dave Brandon fired Matt Anderson for no reason after the 2014 season. Anderson is the head coach of CC.
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Good call, thanks. My mind was still on last year's schedule where it was nine games.
The ever-changing CWPA structure is kind of annoying. Be it division tournaments (or not) and league games.
I think it's been quite a while since the league has had the exact same structure and teams for consecutive seasons.
I got dogged by my Dartmouth friend for taunting him about U-M beating them in hockey - he was all, "College hockey, really?"
Since when is Hartwick our rival, I thought Illinois was???
Collegiate.
The CWPA is not only a conference, but it also is the organization that issues the national poll rankings.
Just a trend. Almost all the at-large bids go to the MPSF conference (which is mostly made up of Pac 12 schools) every year.
To say water polo is a California sport is an understatement.
No team from outside of CA has won the NCAA 3rd place game, much less the national championship.
There are two Eastern conferences: the CWPA and MAAC. Michigan is 38-0 against the MAAC all-time, for perspective.
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Princeton, Indiana is the worst.
The CWPA Tournament bracket has been released.
Quarterfinals
7 Brown vs 2 Indiana (1:30pm)
6 Hartwick vs 3 Bucknell (3pm)
4 Princeton at 5 Harvard (4:30pm)
1 Michigan vs 8 George Washington OR 9 Connecticut College (6pm)
All games will be streamed by the CWPA on a pay stream. If the price isn't ridiculous, I'll probably buy it.
April 17th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^
It's been a long while (a looooonnnngggg while) since I've been in high school.
Didn't Huron and Pioneer dominate at state competitions in water polo?