Women's CWPA Eastern Championship Expands to 12-Teams in 2011

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The 2011 women's Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship will be the first to feature all the Division I-II teams as the league membership voted to expand the championship to 12-teams beginning in 2011 during the league's annual meeting on June 7 at the Hampton Inn in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

Proposed by Brown University head coach Felix Mercado and seconded by Indiana University head coach Barry King, the new regulation places four more teams into the championship field and will encompass the entirety of the CWPA's Division I and II institutions.

Following an amendment to the proposal by Hartwick College head coach Alan Huckins and seconded by University of Michigan head coach Matt Anderson, the top four teams in the league will earn first-round byes with the remaining eight teams competing in two games on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  The four top teams will play one game on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, in the event that one of the institutions is unable to field a team for the 2011 season, the league membership passed an 11-team CWPA Eastern Championship field model proposed by Anderson and seconded by University of Maryland head coach Carl Salyer.

Unlike the 12-team model, the 11-team format features the top five teams earning first round byes with the remaining six teams playing in the first round on Friday. The five top seeds and the winners of the play-in games advance to an eight team championship format with one game on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The bottom three teams (the losers of the play-in games) advance to a round-robin format amongst themselves to determine places 9, 10 and 11 in the field.

In addition, the league membership voted to change the name of both the men's and women's Eastern Championship tournaments to the CWPA Eastern Championship to bring the league's penultimate championship in-line with the other varsity leagues' championship titles.