Here are my predictions, subject to change if any key players are injured:
Play-in game:
Wagner over McKendree by 4 or more goals
Quarterfinals:
Stanford by a lot over Wagner
Cal by 2 over Hawaii. I understand why Hawaii is seeded higher than Cal but Cal finished the season much stronger than Hawaii and has a better team.
UCLA over LMU by 4 or 5. I would have seeded LMU 6th and Harvard 7th.
USC over Harvard by 5. Hats off to Harvard for qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the first time.
Semifinals:
Stanford over Cal by 2 or more
UCLA over USC by 1. If USC loses to UCLA in the semifinals, I won’t be surprised if USC makes a coaching change.
Finals:
Stanford over UCLA by 1. Stanford’s attackers prove to be too much for UCLA. Ryann Neushul wins her 4th NCAA championship.
Last season was Casey Moon’s first year as head coach of USC and he didn’t have his best players bc of the Olympics. SC handed Stanford its only loss this year and was ranked #1 two separate times during the year. Moon has been with the USC program for 15 (or so) years. I find it hard to believe the program would make a coaching change so soon. But I guess one never knows.
I started a new thread entitled “Evaluating women’s programs after the 2025 season” because I don’t want to turn the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament thread into a referendum on Casey Moon or any other coach.
Wagner beat McKendree 19-7 in the play-in game of the NCAA tournament and will play Stanford in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Is anyone able to stream the games on NCAA.com?
yes it’s working. the Hawaii/Cal game is great
Hawaii over Cal : big win
Agreed…and if LMU pulls this off over UCLA that will be huge too!
LMU needed more than 0 goals from their non-Iberian peninsula players to pull that one out
Friday’s results:
Stanford 28, Wagner 6. No surprises.
Hawaii 8, Cal 7. I missed this one. It’s hard to win with a shooting percentage of 21.9. Hats off to Hawaii coach James Robinson for making the NCAA semifinals in his first year as head coach and to Hawaii goalie Daisy Logtens for playing an excellent game.
UCLA 11, LMU 8. A strong performance by LMU (the game was tied at the half and UCLA was up by just 1 goal after 3 quarters). Ruth Arino Ruiz scored 5 goals on 9 shots for LMU. At a listed height of 5’3", Ruiz shows that you don’t have to be tall to be a very good water polo player. I give her credit for staying at LMU for 4 years. Emma Lineback scored 5 goals on 6 shots and had 2 assists for UCLA.
USC 18, Harvard 8. Hats off to Harvard for making the women’s NCAA tournament for the first time.
wasnt gunna happen. UCLA through
Stanford 13, Hawaii 4
USC winning 15-12 late in 4th… surprised how this game went. UCLA looked in control when up 7-4, then USC went on a major run for a while to lead by 5 or 6 and UCLA couldn’t do anything.
Could be a great final if USC Kearns can go off like the last time they beat Stanford. Shout out to the USC goalie Reed for stepping up, wasn’t the main goalie most of the year
Stanford looked super strong for all 4 quarters though against Hawaii and seems to be peaking. Their counter attack was devastating
I did not see this coming and it is strange how UCLA played today almost like something was inherently wrong with the team. Sometimes they rely too heavily on Lauren Steele. She had a great 1st quarter but then less so as the second quarter went on. The UCLA defense really needed to step up in the 2nd half but unfortunately they did not.
Well as I heard Adam Wright tell his men’s team that won the NCAA title this past season “you are the worst bleeping team I’ve ever coached”…I think the mentality with UCLA is definitely a problem at times. While it clearly can work wonders in some teams to degrade the team, others it doesn’t work so well. In the end this season for the women, not so well.
However, I would argue that he squeezed a lot out of this group and many others.
Wow, I know Adam can be tough on his teams but that is not very motivating. BUT he has a love or hate him kind of personality and his teams tend to love him and seek his approval. Maybe he was trying to motivate the women in the same fashion and it just didn’t work out. I also know he has a tendency to over practice his teams so the women may have been exhausted.
Hats off to USC for a gutsy and well coached win. USC had four players in foul trouble in the 3rd - including superstar Emily Ausmus, who ended up fouling out. Moon had to adjust and the rest of the team had to step up, which they did. Once the USC defense contained Emma Lineback, the momentum shifted.
UCLA did not look great against LMU, so there may have been some emotional fatigue setting in - and USC came off of a decisive win against Harvard with positive momentum. UCLA fell flat and USC capitalized on it, which good teams do. Anna Reed kept her composure. Tilly Kerns was clutch, and others stepped up with key goals to keep USC winning by an emotionally healthy number.
Stanford looked very strong today with a strong performance from Jenna Flynn. They haven’t been challenged in the tournament, so it will be interesting to see how they perform in the final. I’m looking forward to an exciting game.
I agree with you regarding the UCLA vs LMU game, that should have been a blow out.
Was always likely going to be a Stanford v USC final as they have the most talent. I think Adam squeezed everything he could out of this team. Stanford should win this by 2-3 goals