The winners will advance to the championship, which will be held at the same facility May 10-12.

Ten teams will be vying for an NCAA crown. The top six teams have been placed in the bracket. The remaining four teams will compete for the last two berths in the bracket via two opening-round games beginning Tuesday, May 7 at Avery Aquatic Center on Stanford’s campus.

Stanford is hosting the 2019 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship for a record fifth time (2001, 2004, 2008, 2015). Four years ago, the Cardinal became the first host institution to win a national championship in its home pool when it beat UCLA, 7-6, on a successful five-meter penalty from Kiley Neushul with 11 seconds remaining.

Stanford, the only women’s water polo team that has competed at every NCAA Championship since its inception in 2001, will make its 19th consecutive appearance in 2019. The Cardinal earned the No. 2 seed via an at-large berth to the field when the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Committee announced the bracket on Monday evening.

In the other opening-round game, Wagner (29-8) will face UC San Diego (20-14) at noon. That winner plays top-seeded USC (26-1) on May 11 at noon. Rounding out the bracket will be No. 4 California (16-8) facing Hawaii (18-5) at 1:45 p.m. and No. 3 UCLA (23-6) competing against No. 6 Michigan (23-8) at 5:15 p.m.

Stanford is searching for its sixth NCAA championship in nine seasons and seventh in program history. The Cardinal has advanced to the title game each of the past nine years, winning it all in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. Stanford has accumulated a record of 245-27 (.901) since 2010.

The Cardinal (20-2) opens on Friday, May 10 at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of Pacific (17-8) and California Lutheran (20-8).

He is the second-consecutive Cardinal to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after Brandon Wulff picked up the award a week ago.

On the season, Matthiessen leads the Cardinal in batting average (.377), hits (52), RBIs (37) and on-base percentage (.460). Over the last seven games, Stanford has scored 85 runs with 37 home runs in its last 14.

Matthiessen also earned the win in five innings pitched on Saturday, striking out five while allowing two runs on five hits.

No. 2 Stanford travels to face Santa Clara at 6 p.m. Tuesday, followed by a three-game series at USC in Los Angeles, starting Friday at 7 p.m.

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Stanford women seeded second for NCAA water polo championship