Dates December 1983 Champions California (5th title) Matches played 12 | Teams 8 Runners-up USC (1st title game) Goals scored 205 (17.08 per match) | |
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The 1983 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the 15th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's college water polo. Tournament matches were played at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, California during December 1983.
Contents
California defeated USC in the final, 10–7, to win their fifth national title. Coached by Pete Cutino, the Golden Bears finished the season 29–3–2.
Jeff Campbell (UC Irvine), Peter Cutino (California), and Alan Gresham (California) were named the Co-Most Outstanding Players of the tournament. An All-Tournament Team, consisting of eight players, was also named.
The tournament's leading scorer was Dan O’Connell from Loyola–Chicago (11 goals).
Qualification
Since there has only ever been one single national championship for water polo, all NCAA men's water polo programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 8 teams were invited to contest this championship. Nonetheless, Slippery Rock became the first team from outside Division I to qualify for the championship tournament.