NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship

The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Three conferences have teams competing in women's water polo, the Collegiate Water Polo Association, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Some teams compete at Division III either as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or independently.

2012

The tournament will be held at the SDSU's Aztec Aquaplex in San Diego, California with automatic bids from the MPSF, CWPA, Big West, MAAC, WWPA and SCIAC conferences. The three-day championships on May 11–13, 2012, will also have two at-large teams.

Tournament First Round games (May 11, 2012): No. 1 Stanford (23-2) def. No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer (21-16) 17–5; No. 2 UCLA (21-3) def. No. 7 Iona (24-11) 14–3; No. 3 Southern California (21-5) def. No. 6 Princeton (28-4) 14–2; No. 4 UC Irvine (24-6) def. No. 5 Loyola Marymount (20-9) 8–6.

Semi-finals (May 12, 2012: No. 1 Stanford (24-2) vs. No. 4 UC Irvine (25-6); No. 2 UCLA (22-3) vs. No. 3 Southern California (22-5).

Championship (May 13, 2012): No. 1 Stanford or No. 4 UC Irvine vs. No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 Southern California.

2011

The tournament was held at the University of Michigan's Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan with automatic bids from the MPSF (Stanford), CWPA (Indiana), Big West (UCI), MAAC (Iona), WWPA (UCSD) and SCIAC (Redlands). The three-day championships on May 13–15, 2011, will also have two at-large teams.

Tournament First Round games: No. 1 Stanford (25-1) vs. No. 8 Iona College/University of Redlands (play-in winner); No. 5 UCI (21-8) vs. No. 4 USC (18-6); No. 3 UCLA (24-6) vs. No. 6 Indiana (21-8); No. 7 UCSD (17-18) vs. No. 2 California (24-4)

Semi-finals: No. 2 California def. No. 3 UCLA 7–4; No. 1 Stanford def. No. 4 Southern California 8–4

Championship: No. 1 Stanford defeated No. 2 California 9-5 for its second national title.

All Tournament First Team: Amber Oland, Stanford; Annika Dries, Stanford; Emily Csikos, Cal; Kim Krueger, Stanford; Patricia Jancso, USC; Melissa Seidemann, Stanford; Dana Ochsner, Cal; Priscilla Orozco, UCLA

All Tournament Second Team: Stephane Peckham, Cal; Jakie Kohli, Indiana; Joelle Bekhazi, USC; KK Clark, UCLA; Cortney Collyer, UC Irvine; Jessy Cardey, UC Irvine; Maggie Wood, Iona; Kelly Easterday, UCLA

Tournament MVP: Annika Dries, Stanford

2010

The tournament field was announced on Monday, May 3, 2010 with the Championship tournament scheduled for May 14–16 at San Diego State University's Aztec Aquaplex. Teams received automatic bids were: UCLA (MPSF), Michigan (CWPA), Marist (MAAC), Loyola Marymount (WWPA) and Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC). Stanford, Cal and USC of MPSF received at-large bids.

Tournament Bracket: #1 Stanford (24-2) vs. #8 Pomona-Pitzer (18-14); #2 USC (22-3) vs. #7 Marist (18-14); #3 UCLA (20-7) vs. #6 Loyola Marymount (27-4); #4 Cal (24-8) vs. #5 Michigan (32-6)

Southern California (25-3) defeated Stanford in the title game 10-9 for its second national title in school history.

2009

The following conferences and institutions received automatic qualification for the 2009 Championships, which were played on May 8–10: Collegiate Water Polo Association, Michigan; Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Marist; Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, USC; Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Cal Lutheran; and Western Water Polo Association, Loyola Marymount. The following institutions received at-large bids to the championship field: Stanford, UCLA, and Hawai'i.

The first round games: #1 seed USC (24-1) vs. #8 Cal Lutheran (19-12); #2 Stanford (24-3) vs. #7 Marist (18-13); #3 UCLA (22-6) vs. #6 Michigan (33-8); and #4 Hawai'i (18-8) vs. # 5 Loyola Marymount (24-7).

The UCLA Bruins women's team (3rd seeded) battled the #1 rated USC Trojans for the national championship on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at College Park, Maryland. With two goals from Tanya Gandy in the first minute of the game, UCLA won a record fifth consecutive crown, 11th national title and 7th NCAA crown. Gandy earned the NCAA Tournament's most valuable player honor.