June 15, 2010

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. - The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) will undergo a radical change for the 2011 women's season as the league's Division I-II varsity membership realigns from three divisions (North, South, West) to two (West, South) for one season.

The league office made the announcement Tuesday.

The change was proposed by Brown University head coach Felix Mercado as the three current non-Division III women's divisions (North, South, West) will merge into two divisions for a single year (2011) to create a pair of six-team divisions due to NCAA regulations.

Beginning this year, the NCAA will mandate that all conferences in which division play is contested meet a standard in which divisions with fewer than five teams must play double round-robin, while divisions with five or more teams can contest either single or double round-robin competition.

By the new CWPA format, all 12 teams, or 11 if Salem International University does not field a team in 2011, will advance to the CWPA Eastern Championship at Indiana University this spring. This is a one year solution which will be reexamined at the 2012 meeting in light of Notre Dame College (Ohio) joining the CWPA as a full-time member for the 2011-12 academic year.

By agreement, the two remaining divisions will be titled "Western" and "Southern" with each of the teams playing a single round-robin format in their divisions.

The division alignment is as follows:

West
Bucknell University
Gannon University
Hartwick College
Indiana University
Mercyhurst College
University of Michigan

South
Brown University
George Washington University
Harvard University
Princeton University
Salem International University
University of Maryland