Bears Return To Action At MPSF Invitational

Friday, October 12

Stanford, CA

4:10 PM

California

Loyola Marymount

10/10/2018 3:06 PM | Men's Water Polo

Weekly Notes Live Streaming (Sunday)

No. 4 Cal Set For Four Matches In Three Days At Stanford

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY - After a week without game action provided the Cal men's water polo team with a chance to rest and recover, the No. 4-ranked Golden Bears will get back to work with their toughest test yet as they head to Stanford to take part in the MPSF Invitational. Play begins Friday with Cal taking on Loyola Marymount at 4:10 p.m. at Belardi Pool. The Bears will play twice on Saturday with times depending on the outcome of Friday's matches. Action concludes Sunday with one match. Live streaming video of Sunday's match will be available through the Stanford website.

Cal makes the trip to the South Bay with a 12-1 overall record as wins at UC Irvine and Pepperdine pushed the Bears' win streak to four games. Playing in just his second full week of matches since returning from Team USA, senior Johnny Hooper became the third Cal player to earn MPSF Player of the Week honors thanks to a two-game stretch in which he scored eight goals and added 10 assists and nine steals. In just four matches this season, Hooper has 20 goals, 16 assists and 12 steals and has helped the Bears to a 4-0 record over that stretch.

LAST TIME OUT
A two-game swing through Southern California yielded a pair of victories as Cal beat No. 13 UC Irvine 15-9 and claimed a 13-11 victory at No. 11 Pepperdine. A big third quarter helped the Bears pull ahead against the Anteaters with two goals from Vassilis Tzavaras leading a 6-2 stretch that gave Cal a six-goal advantage entering the final period. One day later, the Bears again made their move after halftime as, after Pepperdine pulled even at 6-all, Cal scored five of the final six goals in the third period to take an 11-7 lead into the fourth. In addition to Hooper's offensive production, Safak Simsek recorded a hat trick in both matches to help lead Cal offensively.

SCOUTING LMU

The Lions head to Northern California with a 6-6 overall record and head coach John Loughran's crew also brings a three-game win streak thanks to wins over Fresno Pacific, Iona and Navy. LMU also owns a pair of victories over Air Force and a win over Redlands.
Freshman Blazo Mitrovic played a big role in LMU's last win, scoring six goals and grabbing three steals in a 12-10 comeback victory over Navy. Robert Halligan played in the cage and made 15 saves for the Lions. Halligan also had 15 saves in the win over Iona.
Friday's matchup will be the first meeting between the Bears and Lions since the two squared off to open the 2017 season in San Diego. Cal earned a 16-1 win on that occasion, led by four-goal outings by Spencer Farrar and Cameron Wright. Kevin Le Vine stopped 10 shots in the cage.

NEXT UP
After making the trip to Stanford this weekend, Cal comes home for three of its final four regular season matches. That stretch begins on Oct. 21 (note the date change) at noon vs. UC Santa Barbara. UCLA visits on Oct. 27, Cal heads to USC on Nov. 3 and the 2018 regular season ends at home on Nov. 10 with the Big Splash against Stanford. The UCLA, USC and Stanford matches will all be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks.