Bears Open 2019 Campaign At Triton Invitational

Saturday, September 7

San Diego, CA

8:30 AM

California

Whittier College

9/5/2019 1:01 PM | Men's Water Polo

Weekly Release (PDF)Triton Invite Schedule (PDF)

Cal To Play Four Matches at UC San Diego-Hosted Tournament This Weekend

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The No. 4 Cal men's water polo team will open its 2019 season with four nonconference matches at the UC San Diego-hosted Triton Invitational this weekend at the Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla, Calif.

Cal begins the weekend with a pair of matches on Saturday against Whittier College (8:30 a.m.) and No. 14 Loyola Marymount (12:30 p.m.). The Bears' two matches on Sunday will be against opponents yet to be determined. A full tournament outlook can be found here.

Cal is one of 14 teams participating in the 2019 Triton Invitational. The Bears have played in the invitational in six of the last seven years and boast an impressive 20-0 record at the event dating back to the 2013 campaign.

TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK
Dates: Saturday, Sept. 7 – Sunday, Sept. 8
Location: La Jolla, Calif. (Canyonview Aquatic Center)
Opponents: Whittier College (0-0), No. 14 Loyola Marymount (0-0), TBD (x2)
Live Stats: UC San Diego games only

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Head coach Kirk Everist enters his team's first weekend of competition with a key decision to make: who will be the Bears' starting goalkeeper? The position has been up for grabs throughout preseason camp with senior All-American Bernardo Carelli, highly-touted freshman Adrian Weinberg and sophomore Anthony Rethans all battling for the starting role.

Carelli was an All-American Honorable Mention in 2018 and made 10.21 saves per game as the Bears' starter. Weinberg left Oaks Christian School (Oak Park, Calif.) as one of the nation's top high school goalies.

CAPTAIN HOOVER
Fifth-year senior center Jordan Hoover will serve as Cal's team captain for the 2019 campaign. The Moraga, Calif., product netted 33 goals as a redshirt junior in 2018 and will be looked to for further offensive production and leadership this fall.

LUCKY LEFTY
Senior attacker Safak Simsek heads into the 2019 season as the team's leading career goal scorer (107) and will be relied upon as an offensive focal point this fall. The left-hander is coming off his most productive offensive season 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.

GREEK LIGHTNING
Cal will continue to have a Greek presence on the team in 2019 in the form of junior two-meter Nikos Delagrammatikas and freshman center Nikolaos Papanikolaou. Delagrammatikas emerged as one of Cal's most consistent all-purpose players as a sophomore, tallying 25 goals, 16 ejections earned, 16 steals and 11 assists en route to an All-MPSF honorable mention. Papanikolaou was named Junior World MVP as he led the Greek National Team to a gold medal at the 2018 Youth World Championships in Hungary.

A PAIR OF JOURNEYMEN
Junior transfers Jasmin Kolasinac and James Parker Allen have been with one another each step of the way throughout their prep and collegiate water polo careers. The duo played together at King's College in Auckland, New Zealand before both enrolled at Wagner College (Staten Island, N.Y.). After two years with the Seahawks, both transferred to Cal and will play their first seasons with the Bears this fall. Kolasinac was a decorated goal scorer at Wagner, notching 203 goals in just two seasons of action.

2018 IN REVIEW
The Bears narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament in 2018 after falling to rival Stanford in the MPSF Championship title match in Los Angeles. Cal finished the year at 18-6 overall and was ranked No. 4 in the final CWPA poll. The Bears opened the season with wins in 14 of their first 15 matches, but faltered down the stretch with five losses from Oct. 13 to Nov. 18.

Star power dominated Cal's narrative in 2018, highlighted by four-time All-Americans Johnny Hooper and Odysseas Masmanidis wrapping up their collegiate careers. Hooper was named a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top men's player.

NEXT TIME
The Bears return to Berkeley for a full week that includes an exhibition match against Italian club team Pro Recco on Sept. 11 and a pair of home contests against UC Davis and Pacific on Sept. 14 and 15, respectively. All three matches will be played at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal men's water polo, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo), Instagram (@CalMWaterPolo) and Facebook (Facebook.com/Cal-Mens-Water-Polo-Fan-Page).