LOS ANGELES – Seven universities from the state of California have come to agreement to form a new collegiate women's water polo conference that will begin competition in the spring of 2014. The new league, which will be called the Golden Coast Conference, will feature Azusa Pacific University, California Baptist University, Fresno Pacific University, Loyola Marymount University, San Diego State University, Santa Clara University and University of the Pacific.

"Fresno Pacific is pleased to be a part of this new conference with such outstanding members," said Director of Athletics Dennis Janzen. "The vision and future for the Golden Coast Conference is exciting. It is a major step forward for FPU women's water polo as well as for collegiate women's water polo in California."
 
The Golden Coast Conference will begin competition next season and will feature a conference schedule in which each team will play each other once. The final conference standings will then decide seedings for an annual conference championship, which will be held April 24-26, 2014.

"We are really excited about the development of this conference," said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "It's going be a strong conference with several well respected teams."
 
The new league will apply for an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championships this summer. In addition, the membership is currently searching for a commissioner and finalizing its league bylaws.
 
San Diego State and Pacific are moving from the Big West Conference while LMU and Santa Clara are moving from the Western Water Polo Association.  California Baptist completes its transition to NCAA Div. II this summer and is eligible for championship competition this upcoming 2013-14 season.  Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific are also making the transition to NCAA Div. II and will be eligible the following season.