1972 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

1972 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
Tournament details
DatesDecember 1972
Teams8
Final positions
ChampionsUCLA (3rd title)
Runner-upUC Irvine
Third placeSan José State
Fourth placeUSC
Tournament statistics
Matches played13
Goals scored331 (25.46 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)Jim Kruse, UCI (31)
Best playerEric Lindroth, UCLA
← 1971
1973 →

The 1972 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the fourth annual NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship to determine the national champion of NCAA men's college water polo. Tournament matches were played at the Armond H. Seidler Natatorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico during December 1972.[1]

UCLA defeated UC Irvine in the final, 10–5, to win their third, and second consecutive, national title.

The leading scorer for the tournament was Jim Kruse from UC Irvine (31 goals). The Most Outstanding Player of the tournament was Eric Lindroth from UCLA. Additionally, an All-Tournament Team was named for the first time this year.

Qualification

[edit]

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
Loyola–Chicago 1st Never
New Mexico 2nd 1971
San José State 3rd 1971
UC Irvine 4th 1971
UC Santa Barbara 3rd 1970
USC 3rd 1970
UCLA 4th 1971
Yale 2nd 1969

Bracket

[edit]

Championship Bracket

[edit]
First round Championship semifinals Championship
         
UCLA 21
Yale 3
UCLA 15
UC Irvine 10
UC Irvine (2OT) 16
UC Santa Barbara 12
UCLA 10
San José State 5
USC 17
New Mexico 7
USC 14 Second place
San José State (2OT) 19
San José State 21 San José State 12
Loyola–Chicago 6 UC Irvine 14

Consolation Bracket

[edit]
  • Winner advanced to the Second Place Final against the loser of the Championship.
Consolation first round Consolation semifinals Consolation final
         
UC Irvine 23
New Mexico 9
New Mexico 17
Loyola–Chicago 12
UC Irvine 12
USC 8
USC 15
UC Santa Barbara 10
Yale 2
UC Santa Barbara 21

All-tournament teams

[edit]

First team

[edit]

Second team

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Men's Water Polo Championship Results" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved March 23, 2015.