1970 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

1970 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
Dates December 1970
Teams 8
Champions UC Irvine (1st title)
Runners-up UCLA (2nd title game)
Third place Long Beach State
Fourth place San José State
Matches played 12
Goals scored 182 (15.17 per match)
Top goal scorer(s) Ben Gage, UCSB (17)

The 1970 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the second annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's college water polo. Tournament matches were played at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, California during December 1970.[1]

UC Irvine defeated UCLA in the final, 7–6 (in three overtimes), to win their first championship. UCLA was the defending national champion.

For the second consecutive year, the leading scorer for the tournament was Ben Gage from UC Santa Barbara (17 goals). The awards for All-Tournament Team and Most Outstanding Player were not given out until 1972.

Qualification

Since there has only ever been one single national championship for water polo, all NCAA men's water polo programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 8 teams were invited to contest this championship.

Team Appearance Previous
Colorado State 2nd 1969
Long Beach State 2nd 1969
San José State 1st Never
Stanford 1st Never
UC Irvine 2nd 1969
UCLA 2nd 1969
UC Santa Barbara 2nd 1969
USC 2nd 1969

Bracket

  Fifth place Consolation semifinals First round Championship semifinals Championship
                                               
    UCLA 7  
    UC Santa Barbara 6  
  UC Santa Barbara 11       UCLA 7  
  Stanford (3OT) 12       San José State 4  
  San José State 9
    Stanford 7  
  Stanford 7       UCLA 6
  USC 10       UC Irvine (3OT) 7
    Long Beach State 9  
      Colorado State 7  
Colorado State 6       Long Beach State 6
  Seventh place     USC 7       UC Irvine 9     Third place
  UC Santa Barbara 9   UC Irvine 7   San José State 10
  Colorado State 4     USC 4     Long Beach State (3OT) 11

See also

References

  1. "Men's Water Polo Championship Results". NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved March 15, 2015.