Preseason water polo rankings have Chapman No. 6 in D-III

Chapman got off to a great start in 2009 reaching as high as No. 2 in the Division III poll – its highest ranking ever – after a win over No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer. The Panthers struggled in the latter half of the season, losing nine in a row to end the year and finish with a 12-18 record. Several of those losses however, came against top-ranked Division I opponents heading into and during the WWPA Championships.

Of the 33 players on last season's roster, 29 are returning and of those players, 20 were underclassmen including sophomore goalie Taylor Roszkos who earned All-WWPA freshmen team honors in 2009. Roszkos should see more significant playing time in 2010 with the graduation of Colin Gasper, Chapman's all-time leader in blocks.

Also graduating in the spring were Alex Mulé and Austin McElvaney, two of the most prolific offensive players in Chapman history. Mulé ended his career as the Panthers all-time scoring leader while McElvaney left as the program's all-time assist and steals leader. Despite the loss, Chapman does have several key offensive players returning including seniors Steve Neville (43 goals, 42 assists), Matt Siordia (19 goals, 14 assists) and Dominic Tornambe (16 goals, 19 assists)  along with junior Pierre Masson (28 goals, 16 assists).

Coming in ahead of the Panthers in the preseason poll are No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, No. 2 University of Redlands and No. 3 Whittier College while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and Johns Hopkins University tied for fourth. Chapman was 1-5 last season against this teams with the lone winning coming against Pomona.