Dates December 2002 Champions Stanford (10th title) Goals scored 59 (14.75 per match) | Teams 4 Matches played 4 | |
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Runners-up California (18th title game) | ||
The 2002 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the 34th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Tournament matches were played at the Burns Aquatic Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California during December 2002.
Contents
Stanford defeated rival California in the final, 7–6, to win their tenth national title. The Cardinal (24–5) were coached by John Vargas.
The Most Outstanding Player of the tournament was again Tony Azevedo from Stanford. Azevedo, along with six other players, also comprised the All-Tournament Team.
Azevedo, along with Queens College's Michael Vieira, were the tournament's leading scorers, with 5 goals each.
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.