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INDIANAPOLIS – The UCLA men's water polo team (22-4) has earned the No. 3 seed for the 2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship as announced by the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee on Sunday night. The eight teams vying for the National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship will be in competition on Nov. 24 (at Long Beach State and Princeton) and on Nov. 29 and Dec. 1-2 at Stanford. The Bruins will be seeking their 12th NCAA title in the sport and the school's 117th overall.
Six teams earned automatic selections to this year's NCAA Championships by winning their respective conference tournaments. They include Stanford (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), Princeton (Northeast Water Polo Conference), George Washington (Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference), Long Beach State (Golden Coast Conference), UC San Diego (Western Water Polo Association) and Pomona-Pitzer (Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).
The other two teams were selected based on at-large criteria and that resulted in UCLA and USC earning at-large bids, with the Trojans being award a two-seed. Stanford earned the top seed after defeating California, 12-10, in the MPSF Championship earlier today (Nov. 18).
The top two seeds were placed in the bracket with the remaining six teams competing for the last two berths in the bracket via four opening-round games.
The opening-round games will be contested Nov. 24, hosted by Long Beach State and Princeton, and Nov. 29, hosted by Stanford, which will also host the championship to be held Dec. 1 and 2. The semifinal and championship games will be played at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford and streamed live on NCAA.com.
MORE: View the 2018 interactive bracket | Printable bracket
In the first opening-round game, Long Beach State (13-11) will host Pomona-Pitzer (23-8). The winner will advance to the third opening-round game to play UC San Diego (19-5), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Stanford (20-2) at Stanford.
In the second opening-round game, Princeton (19-10) will host George Washington (22-6). That winner will advance to the fourth opening-round game to play UCLA (22-4), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Southern California (28-3) at Stanford.
The Bruins will begin their NCAA title defense against the winner of Princeton/George Washington on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 2:45 p.m. PT at Stanford. UCLA has already defeated Princeton this year, 17-5, in the final game of the Princeton Invitational on Sept. 9. Princeton is currently coached by former UCLA assistant coach, Dustin Litvak, who is in his first year as the head coach of the Tigers. Last year the Bruins defeated George Washington, 20-4, in the first game of the Princeton Invitational on Sept. 8, 2017.
Game times for the opening-round games are listed on the bracket. Game times for the semifinals are 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time Dec. 1, and the championship game will be played at 3 p.m. Pacific time Dec. 2.