The Stanford Cardinal won the 2011 and 2012 NCAA water polo title, and they are the front runner to win the 2013 title. Having three current Olympians on the roster definitely gives them an edge over the other teams in the country. The three Olympians are Annika Dries, Melissa Seidemann and 2012 FINA player of the year and MVP of the London Games, Maggie Steffens.
What is really scary is that Dries, Seidemann and Steffens took off the 2012 season to train exclusively with the women's national team, and they were still able to win the NCAA title. Adding those world class players definitely make Stanford the odds on favorite to win the 2013 title.
Head coach John Tanner is not all that comfortable about calling his Stanford team a dynasty:
"Hats off to our senior group. The four of them have been amazing and have just taken this team over and turned it into a special environment with their vitality," said Tanner, who also won it all in 2002 and lost to USC in the 2009 final, also at San Diego State. "Usually seniors are looking at grad school, they're thinking about the career, and the freshmen add the energy. Our freshmen have added a whole lot of energy, believe me, but the seniors are every bit as exuberant. It really is uncommon to have a group that is uniformly energized day in and day out."
Well, Coach Tanner must get used to the idea since he has the best player in the world for the next four years, Seidemann is a junior with Dries a senior. So, it is not far fetched that the Cardinal could win a few more NCAA titles with Steffens and Seidermann leading the team for the next few seasons.
Stanford can not get too confident, because USC and UCLA have a ton of talent and could knock of Stanford if they have an off night. However, with those three not playing college water polo last will have them hungry to back with their teammates.