No. 19 Seahawks Set To Meet UC San Diego In NCAA Tournament On Tuesday For Third Straight Year

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Stanford, CA – The Wagner women's water polo team (30-9, 14-1 MAAC) travels to Stanford, CA to meet UC San Diego in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Championship to be held at the Avery Aquatic Center on the campus of Stanford University on Tuesday, May 7 at 3:00 pm (12:00 pm PST).

The Wagner-UC San Diego match can be seen live by clicking HERE.

This marks the sixth consecutive year that the Seahawks have captured the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship and the league's accompanying automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, with this year's title coming by virtue of an 8-4 win over Marist on April 28.

The Green & White have now won nine MAAC Championships, setting a conference record. This will be the third straight year that Wagner has met UC San Diego in the play-in round of the NCAA Tournament. The Seahawks have defeated the Tritons in 2017 (6-5) and in 2018 (10-7), as they look to make it a third straight victory over UC San Diego.

The winner of the opening round game advances to take on No. 1 USC on Friday, May 10, at 3 p.m. (ET) in the first round.

The Seahawks enter the contest with 30 wins under their belt while the Tritons boast a 21-13 overall record after winning last weekend's Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championship Tournament, and have won 11 of their last 12 games.

Wagner narrowly defeated UC San Diego 10-7 in last year's opening round to secure its second NCAA Tournament victory.

The Seahawks will look to the dynamic duo of 2019 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Erica Hardy, along with 2019 MAAC Rookie of the Year Sofia Diaz Alvarez to lead the way offensively. Hardy and Diaz Alvarez have combined for a total of 321 points on 195 goals and 126 goals, making up 30% of the Green & White's total points this year.

2019 MAAC Tournament MVP Kristy Donkin has amassed 156 points and is just one assist shy of the 100 mark in her redshirt junior campaign alone. The Sydney, Australia native's 99 assists ranks atop the NCAA Division I while Daisy Nankervis leads the NCAA with 99 steals this year.

Donkin notched eight goals in two games to help the Seahawks earn their sixth straight MAAC title in route to being named the tournament MVP.

Sophomore goalie Katherine Campbell and freshman attack Diaz Alvarez were named members of the All-Championship Team.

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