MPSF Action At Stanford

STANFORD - The No. 1 California men's water polo team will close out the regular season across the Bay at Stanford this weekend, matching up against fellow CWPA Top 4 squads and MPSF foes UCLA, USC and Stanford at Avery Aquatic Center. The Bears will take on No. 4 USC at 1 p.m Saturday. On Sunday, they'll face off against No. 2 UCLA at 10 a.m. before closing the weekend against No. 3 Stanford at 6:30 p.m.

ABOUT USC
The Bears will open the weekend matching up against the No. 4 Trojans for the fourth time this season. So far in the season series, the Bears hold a 2-1 advantage and most recently defeated the Trojans, 11-8, two weeks ago in the Trojans' home pool. The Trojans are 3-5 on the season and 2-5 in conference play. Leading them in scoring through the season's first eight games is Jacob Mercep, who paces the conference in goals (25) and points (33).

ABOUT UCLA
The No. 2 Bruins enter the weekend with a 5-3 record (4-3 MPSF) after finishing the last round-robin at USC 2-1. The Bears defeated the Bruins 11-8 on Feb. 6 and opened the season with a 17-16 overtime win against UCLA in January. The Bruins are led in scoring by Nicolas Saveljic who has 19 through the first eight games.

ABOUT STANFORD
The No. 3 Cardinal plays host this weekend after starting their season 1-2 in Los Angeles two weeks ago. After opening the season with a 14-8 win over the Trojans, Stanford lost to UCLA and Cal. Ethan Parrish has four goals through three games and Beck Jurasius has six goals.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bears finished went 3-0 at USC's round-robin tournament two weeks ago, moving into the top spot in the CWPA rankings for the first time since 2017. Cal defeated No. 2(T) UCLA and No. 2(T) USC on Feb. 6 before knocking off then-No. 1 Stanford the following day.

MPSF HONORS
Freshman Tommy Kennedy was named MPSF Newcomer of the week following his impressive effort through the weekend at USC, totaling three goals and four assists in his first three games playing for the Bears.

JACK ATTACK
Leading the Bears in points through the first seven matches is Jack Deely (21 points, 10 goals, 11 assists). Deely had four goals in the win over No. 1 Stanford and led all scorers in the match.

GREEK FREAK
Sophomore center Nikolaos Papnikolaou has 19 points (18 goals, 1 assist) on the season and leads the MPSF with 30 drawn exclusions. He had a team-high four goals and four steals in the Feb. 6 win over the Trojans,

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Sophomore goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg is 5-0 in the cage this season and is averaging 13.60 saves per game (56.7 percent). He had a season-high 15 saves in the win over Stanford. Weinberg's 68 total saves are second-most in the conference this season.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Fans can follow along with live stats for each game this weekend as posted on the schedule.

Fans can receive additional in-game updates and behind-the-scenes information all season long by following the Bears' social media accounts (Twitter: @CalWaterPolo, Instagram: @CalMWaterPolo).