On a gorgeous Thursday morning in Berkeley, familiar sounds can be heard coming from Legends Aquatic Center. A whistle blows, and the voice of California men's water polo head coach Kirk Everist fills the air.
 
Of Everist's many lessons during the first day of practice for the 2023 season – one which kicks off the work for a third straight national championship – one in particular stands out: this team needs to be ready for the target on its back.
 
"We're going to play excellent teams who are going to bring everything they've got. They're going to throw everything at us and we'll have to withstand that day in and day out all season long," Everist said. "I truly believe this will be the hardest one to do."
 
After another teaching moment, play commences and the ball moves quickly, barely touching the water as it traverses from one side of the pool to the other. Now, it's in the hands of Nikolaos Papanikolaou, and with three defenders converging on him, he calmly flings it into the corner of the net with a velocity that doesn't seem possible considering the effortlessness of his shot.
 
This isn't a surprising sight for the Golden Bears – they've seen this many times before.
 
It's a concise reminder of perhaps the most important lesson yet, one which gives them all the confidence in the world: they are never out of a game as long as Papanikolaou is on their side.
 
"To have that presence in the pool, it's just unmatched," senior goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg said. "Anyone we play knows they have to go against the best player in college. So, the pressure is on everyone else, not us."
 
The last time Papanikolaou and the Bears competed together, it was in last December's national championship game against USC. In a comeback of epic proportions, the Greek native put away seven goals in front of the Bears' raucous home crowd, setting the stage for Weinberg's clutch save and length-of-the-pool assist to Roberto Valera for an unforgettable last-minute game-winner.
 
This year – the last for two-time Cutino Award winner Papanikolaou and eight other fifth-year seniors – will be the end of an era.
 
It will also be the final season for Weinberg – the three-time ACWPC All-American whose confidence is at an all-time high after serving as Team USA's primary goalkeeper at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in July – as well as Garrett Dunn, an important locker room presence who was lauded by his co-captains Papanikolaou and Weinberg for his ability to pick up his teammates, bring everyone together and keep them focused on achieving their collective goal of a three-peat. It's a feat that only Cal (1973-75, 90-92) and USC (2008-13) have ever been able to accomplish.
 
It's a rare sight for a team to have this many fifth-year players, but the Bears hope to continue benefiting from the maturity, experience and DNA that this group has instilled in the program both now and in the years to come.
 
"This group has been special. They are leaders, they bring great energy on a daily basis, they hold each other accountable, and they can communicate with their peers." Everist said. "It's been an extremely talented group over the last four years, but their strength is their connection as a group. That's really been the most powerful thing. When something like that starts to build, our job is to keep it transferring from year to year. This is a group that you're not going to be able to replace, but they've got this year to try to do something really special that not very many teams have been able to do."
 
Since earning the Bears' starting goalkeeper duties as a freshman, the usually soft-spoken Weinberg is as good an example of Everist's sentiment as any, demonstrated through his perennial growth as a player and leader since 2019.
 
"Every single year, what's been working for us has been our team culture," Weinberg said. "There have been games, times during the season where things weren't looking too good, but because we're able to have this brotherhood, this friendship we have with every single person on the team, we're able to push past those moments. No matter what happens, we stick together at all times."
 
Despite losing graduated key starter Jack Deely – Papanikolaou's main assist-man over the last few seasons and a three-time All-American – the Bears feel they are in good shape by returning the rest of their starting core. While Everist is confident they have all the necessary pieces in place to "fill in the blanks" offensively, he believes preparation on the other end of the pool is what's most important right now.
 
"You have a group of guys who logged a lot of minutes last year," Everist said. "We've got a lot of offensive firepower coming back and as long as we're organized and work together, we'll be able to put up numbers. Implementing what we're going to do defensively is a focus right now. Just trying to be really mindful on that side of the ball. It's a matter of getting stops, and that'll help us a lot in our success rate as we go through the season."
 
All eyes will be on the Bears this fall, but if there's anything that winning back-to-back titles has proven, it's that they won't be shying away from the spotlight.
 
"That's the good part about it. You've earned the right to have this pressure and have all these teams coming at us with everything they've got," Everist said. "That's kind of a badge of honor. Now, we go into the season and see if we can handle it emotionally, if we can handle the energy that's going to come at us. It's a compliment to this group, but I think they're emotionally mature enough to do so, and we're going to find out real quick."
 
The Bears begin their season Sept. 2 at the Triton Invitational in San Diego.


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