Men's water polo faces No. 1 Stanford in NCAA
Final Four

he men's water polo team left late Wednesday for the NCAA Final Four and a tough first-round matchup against host school Stanford University, the No. 1 team in the country.

     The contests, set for Saturday and Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif. will be broadcast on the Internet (www.ncaachampionships.com). Windows Media Player is needed to listen to the NCAA broadcasts.

     In the first national semifinal, top-ranked Stanford (20-1) will play the Minutemen (28-5) at 4 p.m. EST followed by the University of California, Los Angeles (15-4) versus Loyola Marymount University (14-13) at 5:30 p.m. EST.

     "Stanford is the No. 1 team in the country so we look forward to the challenge of playing them," said head coach Russ Yarworth. "They have the best player in the country and he is just a freshman so this will be the best competition that we have seen thus far. It will also be the last games for their coach so it will be a very emotional time for them."

     Conferences receiving automatic qualification were: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (Stanford), the Collegiate Water Polo Association (UMass) and the Western Water Polo Association (Loyola Marymount University). The remaining team (UCLA) was selected at large without geographical restrictions.

     A four-team, single-elimination tournament will be played, with a losers' bracket to determine third place. The championship game will be Sunday at 5:30 p.m. EST.

     Last year, defending national champion UCLA defeated University of California, San Diego, 11-2, to capture its seventh championship.

     The Minutemen are looking to be the first team outside of California since the tournament began in 1969 to reach the championship final.