Dates December 1998 Champions USC (1st title) Goals scored 60 (15 per match) | Teams 4 Matches played 4 | |
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Runners-up Stanford (13th title game) | ||
The 1998 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the 30th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Tournament matches were played at the Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center in Newport Beach, California during December 1998.
Contents
USC defeated Stanford in the final, 9–8 (in two overtimes), to win their first national title. The Trojans had previously gone 0–6 in tournament finals appearances. The Trojans (25–3) were coached by John Williams and Jovan Vavic.
The Most Outstanding Players of the tournament were Chris Aguilera (Stanford), Ivan Babic (USC), and Marko Pintaric (USC). These three, along with five other players, comprised the All-Tournament Team.
The tournament's leading scorer, with 5 goals, was George Csaszar from USC.
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 4 teams were invited to contest this championship.