Bears Set For Sunday Showdown With UCSB

BERKELEY - The Cal men's water polo team enters the home stretch of the 2018 regular season as a Sunday matchup against UC Santa Barbara marks the start of a four-match stretch in which the Bears will play three times at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The match, which is scheduled for a noon start on Sunday, also represents the final non-conference game of the regular season with MPSF play beginning next weekend against UCLA. Live updates from the match can be found by following Cal Water Polo (@CalWaterPolo) on Twitter.

Cal enters its match against UCSB with a 14-3 overall record after going 2-2 at the MPSF Invitational hosted by Stanford. Wins over Loyola Marymount and UCSB provided high points for the weekend and the Bears maintained their No. 4 national ranking as a result of the weekend. Contests against USC and UCLA also gave Cal its first try against conference competition and the Bears won't have to wait lont to get their chance to even the score against both teams with matchups against each set for the next few weeks.

LAST TIME OUT
A 17-7 victory over LMU got Cal rolling at the MPSF Invitational and a 19-8 victory over UCSB moved Cal into a Saturday afternoon matchup with USC at Avery Aquatics Center. The Trojans emerged with a 13-6 victory, landing the Bears in Sunday's third-place match against UCLA. That contest proved close right until the final buzzer as Cal's last-second bid to tie the score just missed and the Bruins escaped with a 12-11 victory. Senior Johnny Hooper scored 11 goals at the tournament, passing John Mann for third on Cal's all-time scoring list in the process. With 227 career goals, Hooper now sits third, just eight behind Ivan Rackov's 235.

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA

Head coach Wolf Wigo's squad has emerged as the clear choice for the No. 5 national ranking as the Gauchos own a 16-6 overall record entering the weekend and all six losses have come against MPSF teams (Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA). UCSB will face Pacific on Saturday in a key GCC contest before coming to Berkeley on Sunday.
The Gauchos went 3-1 and took fifth at the MPSF Invitational, earning wins against Pomona-Pitzer, Long Beach State and Pepperdine.
Senior Boris Jovanovic has emerged as one of the nation's top scorers and the Serbia native enters the weekend with 63 goals. Fellow Serbian Ivan Gvozdanovic has also made an impact with 38 goals and a team-high 17 assists. In the cage, Tiago Bonchristiano has seen the majority of the playing time and owns a 12-5 record with 111 saves in 18 games played.
Cal and UCSB have squared off twice already this season with the Bears earning a 12-9 win at the Triton Invitational on Sept. 2 and a 19-8 win on Oct. 13 at the MPSF Invitational.

WHAT'S NEXT
Cal begins its three-match MPSF slate on Oct. 27 when UCLA comes to Berkeley for a noon start at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Bears travel to Los Angeles on Nov. 3 to take on USC and return to Berkeley on Nov. 10 to host Stanford in the annual Big Splash. Start times for the final two games of the regular season have yet to be announced and all three MPSF games will be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks.

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Players Mentioned

Johnny Hooper

California Golden Bears Athletics