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WOODLAND, Calif. – Stanford, UCLA, and USC each collected 21 points to finish in a rare three-way tie on top of the 2019 MPSF Men's Water Polo Coaches' Poll. The defending MPSF Champion Cardinal picked up the most first-place votes with three, followed by the Bruins with two and 2018 NCAA Champion Trojans with one. California was next in line with 13 points, while Penn State Behrend (8) and Austin College (6) rounded out the coaches' projected order of finish.
Stanford returns an experienced group which includes six of its top seven scorers and 13 letterwinners from last season's MPSF Championship and NCAA runner-up team. Highlighting that group is ACWPC National and MPSF Player of the Year, Ben Hallock, who led the conference a year ago with 65 goals. All-Americans Bennett Williams and Tyler Abramson are also back, who each finished in the MPSF's top-five in scoring.
UCLA welcomes back five All-Americans from last year's NCAA Semifinal squad, including goalkeeper Alex Wolf and Nicolas Saveljic. Wolf led the MPSF in goals-against average (6.79), while Saveljic was in the MPSF's top-10 and led the team with 51 goals.
USC has nine All-Americans returning in defense of its 2018 national championship. Top scorers from last season Jacob Mercep and MPSF Newcomer of the Year Hannes Daube are back for their second season with the Trojans, having combined for 120 goals last year. Goalkeeper Nic Porter also returns for a second stint in the cage.
California graduated several top scorers, though All-American Safak Simsek returns (47 goals) along with All-MPSF selection Nikos Delagrammatikas. Freshman Nikolaos Papanikolaou led Greece to the gold medal at the FINA World Youth Championships.
Penn State Behrend returns All-American Isaak Hatopp, who compiled 42 goals, 10 assists, 39 steals, 18 field blocks, and 23 drawn exclusions last year.
Austin College, embarking on its second season of varsity status, returns All-Americans Andrew Pope (1.68 GPG, All-MPSF) and defender Will Koelzer.
First sprint to the 2019 regular season is September 7. The six conference games will take place on the first three Saturdays of November (Nov. 2, 9, and 16). For the first time since 2007 and fourth time overall, California hosts the MPSF Championship Tournament (November 22-24) with all six teams vying for a conference title and entry to the NCAA Tournament. Since its inaugural season of 1992, the MPSF has captured all 27 national championships in men's water polo.
2019 MPSF Coaches' Preseason Poll
| Team | Points (1st Place) | 2018 Record | 2018 MPSF Tourney | 2018 NCAA Finish |
| Stanford | 21 (3) | 21-3 | 1st | 2nd |
| UCLA | 21 (2) | 23-5 | 3rd | T-3rd |
| USC | 21 (1) | 30-3 | 4th | 1st |
| California | 13 | 18-6 | 2nd | n/a |
| Penn State Behrend | 8 | 5-18 | 5th | n/a |
| Austin College | 6 | 1-15 | 6th | n/a |