California Golden Bears Athletics
Wednesday, September 6
Berkeley, CA
5:00 PM
California
vs
UC Davis
No. 1 Cal Opens Home Slate Vs. UC Davis, Pacific
9/5/2017 10:56 AM | Men's Water Polo
BERKELEY - After a trip to San Diego yielded four wins and no losses, the No. 1-ranked Cal men's water polo team returns to Berkeley this week to host UC Davis and Pacific in non-conference play. The Bears and Aggies will square off on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a match that will be televised live by Pac-12 Networks and streamed on Pac-12.com. The week concludes when the Tigers come to town on Saturday for an 11 a.m. match.
Cal got its NCAA title defense off to a strong start at the Triton Invitational with wins over No. 17 Loyola Marymount, No. 12 UC San Diego, No. 8 Long Beach State and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara. Senior center Pedro Stellet earned MPSF Player of the Week honors after scoring seven goals, three of which came in an 8-7 win over the Gauchos. Luca Cupido and Odysseas Masmanidis also scored seven goals apiece to help the Bears outscore their four opponents by a combined 28 goals. In the cage, senior Kevin Le Vine and sophomore Spencer Tagg split time, each starting two games, with Le Vine averaging 13.5 saves per game and Tagg averaging 11.
NO WAITING AROUND
Opening week at the Triton Invitational gave the Bears a chance to see a few new faces amidst a large group of returners and the initial reviews were certainly positive. Three veterans - Pedro Stellet, Luca Cupido and Odysseas Masmanidis - led the way offensively with seven goals apiece while a few newcomers also made their mark with Spencer Farrar scoring five goals and Cameron Wright adding four in their first matches at Cal.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Cal remains at home for its next two matches as Pepperdine and UC San Diego come to town. The Bears host the Waves on Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. and then return to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Sept. 16 for a 2 p.m. match against the Tritons.
Cal got its NCAA title defense off to a strong start at the Triton Invitational with wins over No. 17 Loyola Marymount, No. 12 UC San Diego, No. 8 Long Beach State and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara. Senior center Pedro Stellet earned MPSF Player of the Week honors after scoring seven goals, three of which came in an 8-7 win over the Gauchos. Luca Cupido and Odysseas Masmanidis also scored seven goals apiece to help the Bears outscore their four opponents by a combined 28 goals. In the cage, senior Kevin Le Vine and sophomore Spencer Tagg split time, each starting two games, with Le Vine averaging 13.5 saves per game and Tagg averaging 11.
NO WAITING AROUND
Opening week at the Triton Invitational gave the Bears a chance to see a few new faces amidst a large group of returners and the initial reviews were certainly positive. Three veterans - Pedro Stellet, Luca Cupido and Odysseas Masmanidis - led the way offensively with seven goals apiece while a few newcomers also made their mark with Spencer Farrar scoring five goals and Cameron Wright adding four in their first matches at Cal.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
- No. 9-ranked UC Davis went 3-1 at the Triton Invitational, earning wins over Air Force, UC Irvine and UC San Diego. The Aggies rebounded to win their final three matches in San Diego after dropping their season opener to No. 8 Long Beach State, 13-10.
- Junior Marcus Anderson had one of the more impressive performances of opening weekend for the Aggies in their win over UCSD, scoring four goals and adding three assists in an 11-5 victory.
- Cal and UC Davis met once in the season with the Bears earning a 13-7 victory on the road. Luca Cupido led the scoring effort with four goals, Johnny Hooper added three and Lazar Andric made 13 saves in the victory.\
- After scoring four goals in his first collegiate match, Davis, Calif. native Cameron Wright will make his Cal home debut against a team he is quite familiar with. Wright's father, Jamey, is the current women's coach at UC Davis and a former Aggie player while his mother, Nancy, also starred for the Aggies as well as the U.S. National Team. Wright's siblings, Michael and Hailey, also played at UC Davis.
- UC Davis assistant coach Trent Calder will also see some familiar faces when he takes the deck at Spieker on Wednesday. An All-American and team captain for the Golden Bears, Calder was a key member of Cal's NCAA title-winning teams in 2006 and 2007.
- No. 5 Pacific comes to Berkeley with a perfect 4-0 record after a strong showing at the Bruno Classic hosted by Brown University. The Tigers earned one-sided wins over No. 14 Bucknell, Wagner, No. 15 Brown and No. 19 St. Francis-Brooklyn, scoring a combined 87 goals in their four victories.
- Four Pacific players ended the first week of the season with double digits in goals. Kale Ai (15 goals, 10 assists), Engin Ege Colak (15 goals), Devon Thumwood (11 goals) and Luke Pavillard (10 goals, 11 assists) all found the net with regularity during the Tigers' trip east.
- After redshirting the 2016 season, two-time All-American Ben Stevenson returns for the Tigers in 2017. As a junior in 2015, Stevenson scored 58 goals and assisted on 31 more, finishing sixth in the MPSF with 2.07 goals per game.
- Cal and Pacific met once in 2016 with the Bears pulling out a hard-fought 14-10 victory under the lights at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Johnny Hooper led the way with four goals and Odysseas Masmanidis added three.
Cal remains at home for its next two matches as Pepperdine and UC San Diego come to town. The Bears host the Waves on Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. and then return to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Sept. 16 for a 2 p.m. match against the Tritons.
Players Mentioned
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Attacker
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