No. 1 Southern California
Top-ranked USC is in the hunt for a fourth consecutive NorCal Tournament title this weekend. Winners of the past three NorCal crowns, the Trojans (8-0) carry a 39-game winning streak into this year's tourney, hosted by California at pools in Berkeley and Concord.
USC is grouped with No. 10 Pepperdine, No. 7 UC Irvine and Diablo Valley College, opening up action against DVC on Saturday. A win would put the Trojans in a game to play for the right to move into the Sunday morning semifinals. USC will play its Saturday games at Diablo Valley, a junior college in Concord.
Two wins there would move the Trojans to Berkeley on Sunday for a semifinal game. The NorCal Tournament title match is set for Sunday, preceded by a third-place game.
No. 2 UCLA
No. 2 UCLA will compete at the NorCal Tournament this weekend, opening their slate against Concordia on Saturday.
Their result on Saturday will determine their opponents for their two matches on Sunday.
No. 3 California
No. 3-ranked Cal (4-0), featuring 2012 first-team All-American Collin Smith and 2012 Olympian Aleksa Saponjic, hosts the 2013 NorCal Invitational, taking on Air Force on Saturday. The Golden Bears were dominating in their season-opening Triton Invitational Sept. 7-8 in San Diego, defeating Redlands 21-3, host No. 11 UC San Diego 13-10, No. 13 Loyola Marymount 17-7, and No. 17 UC Davis 15-4, to outscore their opponents 66-24.
Along with Smith, who led Cal with 61 goals and 31 steals last season, and Saponjic, who won a bronze medal as a member of the Serbian National Team in London and was a 2012 second-team All-American, the Bears also return three honorable mention All-Americans from the 2012 squad that finished 17-8 overall (5-3 in the MPSF) and were runners-up to national champion USC at the MPSF Tournament.
No. 3 Pacific
No. 3 Pacific men's water polo will head to the NorCal Tournament Saturday as the Tigers tangle with the top teams in the polls.
Pacific opens with the 13 seed, Santa Clara on Saturday morning at Diablo Valley College.
No. 5 Stanford
Although the Cardinal was picked second in the preseason coachesâ poll and is off to a 4-0 start, the heavy lifting starts this weekend in the NorCal Invitational at Cal, where a dozen of the top teams in the country are expected to compete, including five-time defending NCAA champion USC.
Stanford will begin play on Satuday with a match against UC Davis.
No. 6 UC Santa Barbara
Next up on the schedule for UCSB is the competitive Nor Cal Tournament. The team will head up to Berkeley, Calif. to participate in the two-day tournament that takes place on Saturday and Sunday. The Gauchos will open up the tournament with a match against No. 10 UC San Diego.
No. 6 Long Beach State
Long Beach State travels to No. 3 California this weekend to participate in the NorCal Tournament to continue the non-conference part of the schedule. The 49ers will begin play on Saturday.
Their result on Saturday will determine their opponents for their two matches on Sunday.
No. 8 Pepperdine
Pepperdine will particpate in the NorCal Tournament this weekend when they open play against No. 9 UC Irvine.
Their result on Saturday will determine their opponents for their two matches on Sunday.
No. 9 UC Irvine
The 'Eaters compete in the NorCal Tournament this weekend, opening against Pepperdine on Saturday at Diablo Valley College.
Their result on Saturday will determine their opponents for their two matches on Sunday.
No. 10 UC San Diego
If the Tritons prevail in their first game against the No. 6 Gauchos, they will play the winner of the UCLA/Concordia match on Saturday afternoon. From there, a win would place the Tritons in the semifinals on Sunday with a chance to reach the championship.
The Tritons went 2-2 at the tournament last year at Stanford, grabbing wins against Air Force and UC Davis.
