California Golden Bears Athletics
California
Fordham
Defending Champs Set For NCAA Championship
11/29/2023 11:46 PM | Men's Water Polo
No. 2 Cal Looks To Defend Title For Second Straight Year
2023 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
AT UYTENGSU AQUATICS CENTER | LOS ANGELES
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL PAGE
FRIDAY, DEC. 1
NO. 2 CAL (21-5) VS FORDHAM (24-7) | 4 P.M. PT
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
SATURDAY, DEC. 2
Cal vs. TBA | 4:00 P.M. PT (with win Friday)
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
SUNDAY, DEC. 3
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | 3 P.M. PT
LIVE STATS | WATCH ON ESPNU
The two-time reigning national champion California men's water polo team heads to Los Angeles this weekend for the NCAA Championship hosted by USC. The Golden Bears carry the No. 2 seed into the final weekend of their 2023 campaign, which begins Friday with a quarterfinal matchup against Fordham. A win over the Rams will place Cal in the semifinals against either No. 3 USC or San Jose State. The championship game will take place on Sunday, Dec. 3 and will air on ESPNU.
BEAR NECESSITIES
EIGHT TEAMS LEFT
The NCAA Championship field is expanded to feature eight teams this year – as opposed to seven in 2021 and 2022 – meaning every team will compete in the quarterfinal round. Cal is one of three MPSF schools with a top-three seed, joining No. 1 UCLA and No. 3 USC. Rounding out the top four is Northeast Water Polo Conference champion Princeton.
POTENTIAL REMATCHES
Of the seven other teams in the bracket, Cal faced three of them during the regular season. The Bears defeated Fordham 18-11 on Oct. 19 in their only meeting. Cal won two of three meetings against potential semifinal foe USC, a team the Bears beat by one goal in each of the last two NCAA title games.
In its most recent outing in the MPSF Championship game, Cal was narrowly defeated by USC 13-12. That ended a six-game winning streak over the Trojans dating back to 2021. In their two regular-season meetings, the Bears dominated USC 12-5 on the road in their MPSF opener and came back from three goals down without star center Nikolaos Papanikolaou for a 10-9 home victory on Oct. 8.
The Bears (21-5) enter the tournament with a winning record against every opponent they have played this year aside from UCLA, which won the season series 3-0. After beginning the season with a 12-0 record, Cal had its win streak snapped by the Bruins in a 12-10 road loss on Sept. 24. That was the only meeting in which both Papanikolaou and goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg played.
REPEAT SUCCESS
No men's water polo program has won more national championships than Cal, which claimed its 16th in 2022 in legendary fashion by coming back from four goals down over the final six minutes to defeat USC 13-12 in front of its home crowd at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Papanikolaou finished the game with seven goals and eight earned exclusions. It was the second straight year that the Bears clinched the title against USC by the same final score. Out of Cal's 16 championships, only two of them (1977, 2016) were not part of a back-to-back run. Only three times in NCAA men's water polo history has a team completed a three-peat, with the Bears doing so twice from 1973-75 and 1990-92.
PAPA BEAR
After missing nine of 13 games from mid-September to late October, Papanikolaou returned to the lineup for the Bears' last five games. After receiving his record fifth All-MPSF First Team selection, the two-time reigning national player of the year was back in a dominant role at the MPSF Championships, totaling eight goals and 12 earned exclusions in three games. His two goals in Cal's last game against USC moved him to No. 2 all-time at Cal, giving him 247 in his career.
BRICK WALL
Weinberg, who also earned his fifth straight All-MPSF nod, ranks among the conference's best once again with 158 saves and 33 steals. Weinberg has reached double-digit saves on seven occasions this season, including a season-high 15 against No. 4 Stanford on Sept. 23. His 946 career saves rank third all-time in MPSF history. Weinberg missed the Bears' final five games of October while competing in his fourth international tournament of the year for Team USA. He totaled 14 saves in five games while helping the American team win the gold medal at the Pan American Games, clinching a berth in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
SIZZLING SPANIARDS
Cal's junior All-Americans Roberto Valera and Max Casabella have been powering the offense from the perimeter, resulting in a team-leading 58 goals for Casabella and 52 for Valera. Valera leads the MPSF in assists (54) and ranks second in points (106). At least one of them has recorded a hat trick in 18 of the Bears' 26 games. After scoring nine goals over the last two games, Casabella leads Cal with 12 hat tricks, while Valera is second with 10.
STRONG SUPPORTING CAST
The 2023 Bears are made up of a highly experienced group of returners that includes eight fifth-year seniors and almost the entirety of their championship-winning starting lineup. Four of Cal's five 2022 All-Americans returned, with third-team selection Valera joining first-team returners Casabella, Papanikolaou and Weinberg. Sophomore Albert Ponferrada has been one of the most impactful players on the team this season, as he owns the team's third-highest goal total with 37. His 42 assists and 32 steals both rank second on the team.
Juniors Jake Howerton (34 goals) and George Avakian (19) and sophomores Marci Szatmary (25) and Nik Mirkovic (19) have all seen increased roles. Howerton is coming off his best three-game scoring stretch of the year after putting away eight goals at the MPSF Championships.
*2023 Cal Men's Water Polo Team Statistics
ALL HE DOES IS WIN
Kirk Everist began his 22nd season as Cal's head coach fresh off his second straight national coach of the year honor – his fourth overall – and his record-breaking third consecutive MPSF Coach of the Year award. The USA Water Polo Hall of Famer owns an all-time coaching record of 457-134 (.773) and has won seven national championships at Cal, five coming as a coach and two as a player.
MPSF ACCOLADES
No MPSF team earned more All-MPSF First Team selections than Cal, which landed four and seven overall. Nikolaos Papanikolaou garnered his fifth consecutive first-team honor, while goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg and attackers Max Casabella and Roberto Valera joined him. Jake Howerton and Albert Ponferrada collected second-team recognition and George Avakian earned Honorable Mention status. Papanikolaou, Howerton and Weinberg were also named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team.
BEST OF THE BEST
Since beginning the season as the nation's top-ranked team for the second straight year, Cal has been the only team to remain in the top two in every Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) poll in 2023. Since 2008, the Bears have began the year with a No. 1 national ranking five times.
BEARS WITH BRAINS
Excelling both inside and outside of the pool, the Bears hauled in numerous academic awards from the 2022-23 school year, including 15 ACWPC All-Academic nods – tied for the program's most since 2009. They also brought in nine MPSF All-Academic and Pac-12 Honor Roll honors, while individually, Jordi Gascon earned a spot on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large Academic All-District Team.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
