BERKELEY - The 2017 postseason gets underway this weekend as the Cal men's water polo team heads to Stanford for the second week in a row to compete in the MPSF Championships at Avery Aquatic Center. The Bears enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will open play against No. 3 UCLA at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The winner of the Cal-UCLA match will advance to Sunday's championship game while the loser will return to action on Saturday at noon against the third-place team from a group that includes No. 1 seed Stanford, No. 4 USC and No. 5 Penn State Behrend. The winner of Saturday's match will compete for third place on Sunday at 11 a.m. and the championship match is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. Sunday's matches will be televised live by Pac-12 Networks with Jim Watson and Greg Mescall calling the action.

Cal wrapped up the regular season with another close contest against the Cardinal but this time the Bears couldn't come back from a three-goal deficit in the fourth period and fell 11-10 in the 2017 Big Splash. Despite that result, Cal finished the regular season with an 18-2 overall record and carries a No. 2 national ranking into the postseason. 

LAST TIME OUT
Johnny Hooper scored four goals while Conor Neumann and Vassilis Tzavaras added two apiece as the Bears dropped an 11-10 decision to Stanford in the Big Splash. Cal cut the Cardinal lead to just one late in the fourth period but couldn't score the equalizer. Goalkeeper Kevin Le Vine made 11 saves in the effort.

NEXT UP
The field for the 2017 NCAA Championships will be announced Sunday night with the top two national seeds advancing directly to the four-team tournament that begins Dec. 2 at USC. Four other teams will be selected to compete in play-in matches with the two winners also advancing to Los Angeles. Sites and times for those matches have yet to be announced.

SCOUTING STANFORD

• The Cardinal enter the postseason with an 18-3 overall record and the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament after an 11-10 win over the Bears, combined with goal differential in MPSF matches, pushed Stanford to the top line of the bracket.
• Redshirt freshman Ben Hallock has emerged as a force at two meters for the Cardinal and leads the MPSF in scoring with 53 goals. Drew Holland is Stanford's man in the cage and he ranks second in the conference with a 6.07 goals against average.
• Cal and Stanford have split a pair of meetings in 2017 with the Bears earning an 11-9 victory at the Mountain Pacific Invitational in September.

SCOUTING UCLA

• A 12-11 sudden death overtime win over USC to close the regular season landed the Bruins the No. 3 seed at the MPSF Tournament and head coach Adam Wright's squad enters with an 18-3 overall record.
• Freshman Nicolas Saveljic leads the Bruins in scoring with 39 goals and senior Max Irving isn't far behind with 36. Goalkeeper Alex Wolf has stepped into the shoes of former Bruin standout Garrett Danner and provided a steady hand at the back of UCLA's defense as he ranks third in the conference with a 7.11 goals against average.
• Cal and UCLA have also split a pair of meetings this season with UCLA winning the first matchup, a 9-8 overtime decision at the Mountain Pacific Invite, and Cal earning a 12-9 victory in the rematch on Oct. 21 in Los Angeles.

SCOUTING USC

• The Trojans enter with a 22-3 overall record and received the No. 4 seed after dropping a sudden death overtime decision to UCLA in the final game of the regular season. Two of USC's three losses on the season have come at the hands of its cross-town rival.
• Head coach Jovan Vavic has relied on an experienced group throughout the 2017 season, led by goalkeeper McQuin Baron. USC's senior in the cage leads the MPSF with a 5.64 goals against average. On offense, freshman Marko Vavic has led the charge and ranks third in the MPSF with 43 goals.
• Cal and USC met only once in the regular season with the Bears earning a 6-3 victory on Senior Day at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Senior Kevin Le Vine earned MPSF Player of the Week honors for his performance after making 18 saves to hold the Trojans to their lowest goal output of the season.

SCOUTING PENN STATE BEHREND

• The Lions head west with a 6-12 overall record but wrapped up the regular season with wins in two of their final three contests. Penn State Behrend will compete in the MPSF Championships for the second year in a row in 2017.
• Freshman goalkeeper Matt Olimski has been a statistical standout for the Lions all season and he enters the MPSF Tournament as the conference's leader in saves per game with 14.68. Sophomore Grant Garcia ranks fifth in the conference in goals per game with 1.89.
• The Bears and Lions met on day two of the 2016 MPSF Championships with Cal earning a 17-4 victory. Jordan Hoover scored four goals in the win and Bernardo Carelli made 13 saves.