2009 Pacific Coast Division-Northern Region Championship Field Seeded & Set for October 24-25

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) released the seedings for the 2009 Men's Collegiate Club Pacific Coast Division-Northern Region Championship set for the University of California-Davis on October 24-25.

One of two determining tournaments for the Pacific Coast Division Championship on October 31-November 1 at California Polytechnic State University, the Northern Region Championship will determine the four teams which will advance to the division championship to compete for the title and an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Florida.

Due to the size and complexity of the division, the Pacific Coast is divided into two regions (North, South), with the four best teams from each region meeting at Cal Poly to compete for the championship.  The four teams from the Southern Region will also be determined on October 24-25, although the final seedings for that championship will not be decided until after this weekend's event at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

As each team plays eight opponents in the 10-team Northern Region, two teams do not meet during the season until potentially the region championship. Subsequently, the CWPA Tiebreaker System is often necessary to seed the teams for the championship.

In seeding the 2009 Northern Region Championship, the tie-breaker system was used four times, with head-to-head competition being the most common implementation tool.

Leading the way into the Northern Region title tournament is the University of California-Berkeley which finished 8-0 during the regular season, one game ahead of both University of California-Davis "A" and California State University-Chico.

Davis "A" and Chico, which both finished 7-1, are seeded second and third as Davis defeated Chico 8-4 in head-to-head competition to clinch the No. 2 seed. 

University of California-Santa Cruz and California State University-Maritime Academy, which both finished 5-3, are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.  Santa Cruz earns the No. 4 seed due to goal differential against all higher seeded opponents (Cal, UC-Davis "A", CSU-Chico) as CSU-Maritime notched a higher goal differential (-24) than UC-Santa Cruz (-4).

The most complicated tie-breaker occurs for the No. 6 seed as Stanford University, Fresno State University and St. Mary's College all finished 2-6.

As Fresno played both Saint Mary's (12-11 W) and Stanford (12-7 L), but St. Mary's and Stanford did not face each other, head-to-head competition among the three teams is eliminated as a tiebreaker.  Due to this, Stanford earns the No. 6 seed due to goal differential comparison between Stanford (-33), St Mary's (-34) and Fresno State (-45) against common higher seeded opponets (Cal, UC-Davis "A", CSU-Chico, UC-Santa Cruz, CSU-Maritime).

With the No. 6 seed determined and Stanford is removed from the three-way tie, tiebreakers revert back to head-to-head with Fresno winning the No. 7 seed due to a 12-11 win over St. Mary's.

The final two teams, University of California-Davis "B" and San Jose State University, enter the championship holding the No. 9 and 10 seeds as Davis defeated SJSU 8-6 earlier in the season.