Bears Host Big Splash, Senior Day - California Golden Bears Athletics

BERKELEY - The Cal men's water polo team returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex for the final match of the regular season as the Bears host Stanford on Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. in the annual Big Splash. Cal comes home after four straight on the road, three of which ended up in the win column. Saturday's match will also serve as Senior Day for Cal's four seniors -- Lazar Andric, Thomas Carroll, Chandler Jarrels and Farrel South -- as they play their final regular season game at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The contest will be televised by Pac-12 Bay Area and on Pac-12.com.

LAST TIME OUT
A defensive slugfest against UC Irvine turned in Cal's favor in the second half as Safak Simsek led the Bears with three goals, all of which came after halftime, in a 9-6 victory. The next day, U.S. Olympian Luca Cupido continued to show that he is rounding into good late-season form as the junior scored a season-high five goals and goalkeeper Lazar Andric stopped 18 shots in a 12-7 win at Pepperdine.

SENIOR DAY
A quartet of seniors will jump in the pool for its final regular season contest at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Goalkeeper Lazar Andric, utility player Chandler Jarrels and defenders Thomas Carroll and Farrel South will be honored with a pre-game ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments as Golden Bears.

STAT SHEET
Sophomore Johnny Hooper continues to lead the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) in goals (55) and goals per match with (2.75). Having now played in over half of Cal's matches, Odysseas Masmanidis entered the conference scoring chart at 10th with 1.64 goals per contest. And, freshman Safak Simsek continues to climb the scoring ladder as well, ranking 15th in the conference with 1.30 goals per match. Goalkeeper Lazar Andric has led the conference in saves per match for most of the season and he enters the week with an average of 11.50 after a tremendous 18-save performance against Pepperdine.

ABOUT STANFORD

The Cardinal enter the 2016 Big Splash with a 12-5 overall record after dropping an 11-10 decision to Pacific last weekend. Stanford has lost two straight entering this week's action but the losses have each come by only one goal.
After graduating the MPSF's leading scorer and 2016 U.S. Olympian Bret Bonnani, Stanford has gotten scoring from several different contributors this year. Blake Parrish leads the Cardinal with 40 goals while Mitchell Mendoza (29) and Cody Smith (29) have also been key on the offensive end.
Stanford hosted the 2015 Big Splash and Cal left Avery Aquatic Center with the Steve Heaston Trophy in its possession thanks to a 13-8 victory. Senior Colin Mulcahy led the way for the Bears, who went 2-0 against Stanford in 2015, with five goals while Luca Cupido added four.

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Players Mentioned

Lazar Andric

Thomas Carroll

Luca Cupido

Johnny Hooper

Chandler Jarrels

Odysseas Masmanidis

Colin Mulcahy

Safak Simsek

Farrel South