SoCal water polo tournament highlights weekend's NCAA games

The SoCal tournament is being hosted by Santa Barbara this weekend, and the tournament is another stacked field which features most of the same teams that were part of the NorCal Invitational. All 16 teams are ranked in this tournament including the top 12 in the country, followed by the No. 14, 16, 17 and 19 ranked teams.

The format of the tournament is played out through all 16 places, so the groups are set up to determine the first two rounds. The same favorites are going to be involved with top ranked USC Trojans being the favorite, but they looked vulnerable in their 7-6 win over No. 4 ranked California Golden Bears. Cal was able to draw ejections and convert them, so that is one area of weakness for USC.

Even with that they are the team to beat, and we will see if any team can knock them out. Look for host, and No. 6 Santa Barbara to be a possible team to grab an upset. At the NorCal tournament they played Stanford tough and lost 8-7, and that matchup should present itself assuming UCSB gets past Stanford.

There are pair of East Coast schools who made the trek out West, with No. 15 Princeton Tigers and No. 19 St. Francis Terriers. Princeton could make some noise after the first round, but do not expect St. Francis do be able to be all that competitive until the final game.

Here is Saturday's schedule, all times pacific: