BERKELEY – No. 8 California will look to swing its momentum in the right direction when it takes on four in-state opponents this weekend at the UC Davis-hosted Aggie Roundup at Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis, Calif.
 
The Bears (3-3), who dropped two matches in their home pool last weekend, will play twice Saturday against No. 19 California Baptist (8 a.m.) and No. 18 San Jose State (4:45 p.m.) and twice Sunday against No. 7 UC Davis (10:30 a.m.) and Santa Clara (2:15 p.m.). Cal's four opponents are a combined 5-13 with UC Davis being the lone foe with a winning record. The host Aggies handed Cal one of its two losses last week in a 16-13 overtime clash.
 
All four matches will have live stats provided on the FOSH. Cal's match vs. UC Davis will also feature a live stream on the Aggies' YouTube channel.
 
AGGIE ROUNDUP OUTLOOK
Opponents: #19 California Baptist (1-5) | #18 San Jose State (0-3) | #7 UC Davis (3-2) | Santa Clara (1-3)
Dates: Saturday, Sept. 21 (two matches) | Sunday, Sept. 22 (two matches)
Location: Davis, Calif. (Schaal Aquatics Center)
Live Stats: FOSH | California Baptist | San Jose State | UC Davis | Santa Clara
Live Video: vs. UC Davis
 
ABOUT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Lancers (1-5) have lost three straight and five of six to start the season heading into the Aggie Roundup. Four of their losses have come against nationally ranked opponents, most recently including then-No. 9 UC Irvine and then-No. 8 Pepperdine in Los Angeles last weekend. CBU's lone win came against Wagner in the Bruno Fall Classic in Providence, R.I. during the opening weekend of play. Zach Lowery leads the team with 15 goals.
 
ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE
The Spartans are winless entering the Aggie Roundup, but have faced a challenging slate so far in Pacific, Stanford & UCLA, all of which rank inside the top four of the latest CWPA poll. All three losses came by five goals or more.
 
ABOUT UC DAVIS
The Aggies are 3-2 heading into their host weekend and have already defeated the Bears once this season. UC Davis will take on California Baptist and Stanford prior to facing Cal this weekend. Nir Gross leads the Aggies with nine goals while Yurii Hanley has a team-best 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists). Jonah Addington is averaging 10.5 saves per match.
 
ABOUT SANTA CLARA
Since a season-opening 17-8 win over Johns Hopkins, Santa Clara has dropped three straight matches to George Washington, Fordham and Navy, the latter of which came in overtime. The Broncos will play three times this weekend before ending the two-day slate against the Bears.
 
LUCKY LEFTY
Senior attacker Safak Simsek is the team's leading active career goal-scorer (124 goals) and has been relied upon as the offensive focal point this fall. Simsek leads Cal and the MPSF in goals (17) and points (26) this season, having netted at least two scores in each match.
 
The left-hander is coming off his most productive offensive season in 2018 with 47 goals and 52 assists, both career-bests. Simsek, a native of Istanbul, Turkey, earned a slew of postseason awards in 2018 as he was named to the ACWPC All-America Third Team, the MPSF All-Tournament Team and the All-MPSF Second Team.
 
THROWN INTO THE FIRE
Cal's youthful roster has seen multiple true freshmen earn extended playing time. Of the freshmen, goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg and center Nikolaos Papanikolaou have seen the most reps – and immediate success. Weinberg has started each match between the pipes and owns 65 saves and a .580 save percentage. He had 17 and 16 saves against UC Davis and Pacific, respectively, last weekend.
 
Papanikolaou – better known as Papa – has been a force in the middle, tallying a team-best 20 exclusions drawn along with 11 goals and two assists. Other freshmen who have made early impacts include Sam Untrecht (six goals, seven steals) & Warren Loth (four goals, five field blocks).
 
CAPTAIN HOOVER
Fifth-year senior Jordan Hoover is Cal's 2019 team captain. The Moraga, Calif., product has 14 goals this season, the second most on the team, and has 10 exclusions drawn. He has hat tricks in three of Cal's six matches.
 
NEXT TIME
Cal will make its first of two regular-season trips to Los Angeles next weekend for the MPSF/SoCal Invitational, hosted at UCLA and Loyola Marymount. Cal is one of 16 teams participating in the three-day invitational tournament and is slotted as the No. 7 seed. The Bears will clash with No. 10-seeded UC Irvine at 3:20 p.m. on Friday in both team's first match. Cal's next two opponents and game times will depend on Friday's results.
 
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