Bears Head South To Take On USC - California Golden Bears Athletics

BERKELEY - The Cal men's water polo team hits the road for the second of four matches away from Berkeley as the Bears travel to Los Angeles to take on USC in a 6:30 p.m. match that will be televised by Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Los Angeles. Cal split a pair of matches last weekend, dropping a hard-fought 7-6 decision to No. 1 UCLA and bouncing back for a 14-10 win over No. 4 Pacific. The Trojans played one match, beating Long Beach State 13-8, and will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday.

LAST TIME OUT
A packed house at Spieker Aquatics Complex watched the Bears go toe-to-toe with the Bruins but a late goal by UCLA's Patrick Fellner made the difference. Odysseas Masmanidis led Cal in scoring with two goals against UCLA. The next night, Cal's offense took center stage as Johnny Hooper scored four goals and the Bears turned a 6-6 tie at halftime into a convincing victory. Masmanidis scored three goals against the Tigers and Luca Cupido added two.

STAT SHEET
Sophomore Johnny Hooper continues to lead the MPSF in scoring with 50 goals and a goal per game average of 2.94. Safak Simsek (16th, 1.18) and Luca Cupido (14, 1.08) also rank in the top 20 in goals per game. Goalkeeper Lazar Andric is the MPSF's top goalkeeper when it comes to saves per game at 11.36 and Cal ranks second in the five-team conference in scoring with a team average of 15.12 goals per game.

STARTING STRONG
A quartet of convincing victories in New Jersey got the 2016 Bears off on the right foot. An 18-8 win over No. 11 Princeton served as the highlight and was followed by a 15-4 win over George Washington, 17-0 victory over St. Francis and a 16-2 triumph over Johns Hopkins. Johnny Hooper picked up where he left off in 2015 by scoring a team-high 12 goals for the weekend. Freshman Jordan Hoover was impressive in his first collegiate action, scoring nine goals, while Lazar Andric allowed just three goals in six periods of play and the Bears outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 66-14.

POSTSEASON RETURN
Cal's strong 2015 campaign ended at the NCAA Championships and marked a return to the postseason for the nation's leader in NCAA titles (13). Despite falling to USC in the semifinal round, the Bears rebounded with a 20-9 victory over UC San Diego to bring home the third-place trophy. Luca Cupido was named a first team all-tournament performer while senior Colin Mulcahy and freshmen Johnny Hooper and Odysseas Masmanidis were named second team at their first NCAA Tournament.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS TICKETS ON SALE
Tickets for the 2016 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championships, which will be held Dec. 3-4 at Spieker Aquatics Complex, are now on sale through the Cal Ticket Office. For more information, click here.

ABOUT USC

The Trojans enter the week with a 16-1 record after beating Long Beach State 13-8 on Saturday and carry an eight-match winning streak into Thursday's match against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Brothers Blake and Lachlan Edwards lead the Trojans in scoring with Blake owning 34 goals and Lachlan adding 27. Goalkeeper McQuin Baron, who spent the summer with Cal's Luca Cupido on the United States men's water polo team that competed at the Rio Olympics, leads the MPSF in goals-against average at 4.22.
The lone blemish on USC's record came on Sept. 24 at the hands of the Bears. Johnny Hooper scored three goals and Lazar Andric stopped 10 shots (while also scoring a goal of his own) en route to a 10-8 Cal win in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational in Berkeley.

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Players Mentioned

Lazar Andric

Luca Cupido

Johnny Hooper

Jordan Hoover

Odysseas Masmanidis

Colin Mulcahy

Safak Simsek

California Golden Bears Athletics