California Golden Bears Athletics
Saturday, September 30
Santa Barbara, CA
12:00 PM
California
at
UC Santa Barbara
Connor Reid and the Bears wrap up a five-game road stretch with Saturday's contest at UC Santa Barbara
Bears Get Back To Work At UC Santa Barbara
9/28/2017 9:03 AM | Men's Water Polo
BERKELEY - One week after going 3-1 at the Mountain Pacific Invitational, the Cal men's water polo team takes the trek back to Southern California as the No. 3-ranked Bears travel to Santa Barbara to take on No. 8 UC Santa Barbara in a non-conference contest. Game time is set for noon on Saturday at Campus Pool. Live stats will be available through TheFosh.net and live updates can be found by following Cal Water Polo on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo).
The Bears saw MPSF competition for the first time last weekend as wins over Air Force and Pepperdine put Cal in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational. A thrilling overtime contest against UCLA went the Bruins' way, but Cal rebounded the next day to pick up a key victory over fellow conference rival Stanford. Johnny Hooper led the Bears offensively with 12 goals in four matches and his strong weekend moved the junior to the top of the MPSF scoring list with a 2.75 goals-per-game average that is nearly half a goal higher than the next closest competitor. Senior Luca Cupido also enjoyed a strong scoring weekend with nine goals and he leads Cal in scoring with 28 goals.
NO WAITING AROUND
Cal's offense continues to provide plenty of highlights as the Bears enter their match against UC Santa Barbara averaging 13.58 goals per game. Johnny Hooper leads the MPSF in goals per game with 2.75 while Luca Cupido (third, 2.33) and Odysseas Masmanidis (sixth, 2) also rank in the top 10.
SAVE THE DAY
Kevin Le Vine got the start for all four matches at the Mountain Pacific Invitational and rose to the occasion, making a career-high 17 saves in Cal's match against UCLA. Le Vine, a senior from El Cajon, Calif., ranks second in the MPSF in saves per game with 11.06 entering the UCSB match.
SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
The trip to Santa Barbara marks the end of a five-match stretch away from home as Cal returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Oct. 4 to kick off a three-match homestand against Santa Clara. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. and the match will be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks. UC Irvine pays a visit to Berkeley on Oct. 14 and San Jose State will make the drive from the South Bay on Oct. 15. Both of those matches are set for a 1 p.m. start.
The Bears saw MPSF competition for the first time last weekend as wins over Air Force and Pepperdine put Cal in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational. A thrilling overtime contest against UCLA went the Bruins' way, but Cal rebounded the next day to pick up a key victory over fellow conference rival Stanford. Johnny Hooper led the Bears offensively with 12 goals in four matches and his strong weekend moved the junior to the top of the MPSF scoring list with a 2.75 goals-per-game average that is nearly half a goal higher than the next closest competitor. Senior Luca Cupido also enjoyed a strong scoring weekend with nine goals and he leads Cal in scoring with 28 goals.
NO WAITING AROUND
Cal's offense continues to provide plenty of highlights as the Bears enter their match against UC Santa Barbara averaging 13.58 goals per game. Johnny Hooper leads the MPSF in goals per game with 2.75 while Luca Cupido (third, 2.33) and Odysseas Masmanidis (sixth, 2) also rank in the top 10.
SAVE THE DAY
Kevin Le Vine got the start for all four matches at the Mountain Pacific Invitational and rose to the occasion, making a career-high 17 saves in Cal's match against UCLA. Le Vine, a senior from El Cajon, Calif., ranks second in the MPSF in saves per game with 11.06 entering the UCSB match.
SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
- The Gauchos enter the weekend with an 8-4 record after also going 3-1 at the Mountain Pacific Invitational. An opening-round loss to UC Irvine gave way to wins over San Jose State, Princeton and UC Davis for head coach Wolf Wigo's squad.
- Seven different players own double-digit goal totals for UC Santa Barbara with Ivan Gvozdanovic's 21 leading the way. Boris Jovanovic and Shane Hauschild have also been offensive catalysts as Jovanovic has 18 goals and 10 assists while Hauschild has 17 goals and is tied with Jovanovic for the team-lead in assists with 10.
- Both Justyn Barrios and Connor Macdonald have seen the bulk of the playing time in the cage with Barrios owning the edge in starts, 6-3. He comes into the weekend with a 9.76 goals against average and 56 saves in nine appearances.
- Cal and UC Santa Barbara have already met once in 2017 with the Bears earning an 8-7 win on the final day of the Triton Invitational in San Diego. Connor Reid scored the all-important insurance goal late in the match and Pedro Stellet led the way in the scoring category with 11 saves. Spencer Tagg made 11 saves as Cal's starting goalkeeper.
The trip to Santa Barbara marks the end of a five-match stretch away from home as Cal returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Oct. 4 to kick off a three-match homestand against Santa Clara. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. and the match will be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks. UC Irvine pays a visit to Berkeley on Oct. 14 and San Jose State will make the drive from the South Bay on Oct. 15. Both of those matches are set for a 1 p.m. start.
Players Mentioned
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GK
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