BRIDGEPORT, Pa. - The UC San Diego men's water polo team will open the 2011 season as the 12th-ranked team in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Men's Varsity Preseason National Top 20, it was announced Wednesday.

Defending national champion, the University of Southern California (99 points), will open the season as the top-ranked team in the land, followed by 2010 national runner-up University of California (95 points) and No. 3 UCLA (90 points).

Stanford University (86 points), University of the Pacific (76 points), UC Irvine (70 points), UC Santa Barbara (69 points), Loyola Marymount University (64 points), Pepperdine University (63 points) and Long Beach State (60 points) conclude an All-California Top 10.

New York's St. Francis University will debut at No. 11, followed closely by UCSD (44 points).

UCSD will open its season on Labor Day weekend with the 2011 Triton Invitational at Canyonview Pool. The Tritons will open the Invite at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 3 against Redlands. They will follow with a 3:30 p.m. clash with No. 18 Air Force. The following day, UCSD will face Cal Lutheran at 9:00 a.m. and then Western Water Polo Association-foe LMU at 3:30 p.m.

UCSD went 13-13 overall last season, finishing fourth at the 2010 WWPA Championships.

The men's water polo program recently returned from a team trip to Croatia. To read about the Tritons' experience through their own eyes, visit Tritons On the Road- International Edition.

2011 Varsity Top 20 (Preseason)
Rank	Team	2010 Final Poll	Points
1	University of Southern California	1	99
2	University of California	2	95
3	University of California-Los Angeles	4	90
4	Stanford University	3	86
5	University of the Pacific	8	76
6	University of California-Irvine	5	70
7	University of California-Santa Barbara	6	69
8	Loyola Marymount University	7	64
9	Pepperdine University	9	63
10	Long Beach State University	11	60
11	St. Francis College (N.Y.)	10	50
12	University of California-San Diego	14	44
13	University of California-Davis	12	43
14	Santa Clara University	13	34
15	United States Naval Academy	15	30
16	Princeton University	16	23
17	California Baptist University	17	20
18	United States Air Force Academy	20	14
19	Bucknell University	18	9
20	Concordia University (Calif.)	19	8
RV	Brown University	RV	7
RV	University of Redlands	NR	1
RV	Pomona-Pitzer Colleges	NR	1
RV	Johns Hopkins University	NR	1