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California Golden Bears Athletics
California
Whittier
No. 1 Bears Set For Overnght MPSF Invitational
9/21/2023 5:16 PM | Men's Water Polo
Cal Seeking Third Straight 10-0 Start
OVERNGHT MPSF INVITATIONAL
HOSTED BY USC | LOS ANGELES
TOURNAMENT PAGE | LIVE STREAM (OVERNGHT) | LIVE STATS
FRIDAY, SEPT. 22
NO. 1 CAL (9-0) VS. WHITTIER (0-5) | 12 P.M. PT
UYTENGSU AQUATICS CENTER (USC) | LOS ANGELES
SATURDAY, SEPT. 23
NO. 1 CAL (9-0) VS. TBD | 8 A.M.
AT USC OR UCLA
SUNDAY, SEPT. 24
NO. 1 CAL (9-0) VS. TBD
The No. 1 California men's water polo team continued to roll in its latest undefeated road trip, knocking off No. 11 UC Davis 11-9 last Friday and No. 7 Pacific 17-8 on Sunday. Playing without star center Nikolaos Papanikolaou in both matches, the Golden Bears (9-0) flexed their depth once again, getting key contributions from all over the roster, more stellar play from goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg, and receiving a pair of four-goal performances by attackers Max Casabella and Roberto Valera. Casabella's four goals in the win over the Aggies helped the Bears steal momentum early, while Weinberg closed things out with five of his 13 saves coming in the fourth quarter. In Sunday's win over the Tigers, Valera led all players with four goals while Casabella and Albert Ponferrada added hat tricks.
BEAR NECESSITIES
SIZZLING SPANIARDS
Cal's junior All-Americans have been powering the offense from the perimeter, resulting in a team-leading 24 goals for Casabella and 22 for Valera. Valera – who was named the first MPSF Player of the Week of the season – leads the Bears in assists (29), points (51) and hat tricks (5). Casabella has scored at least three goals in three of his last four outings, a stretch highlighted by his season high five-goal performance in the Bears' convincing 12-5 win at then-No. 2 USC.
BRICK WALL
Coming off an offseason in which he was Team USA's starting goalkeeper in three different international tournaments – including both the Men's Water Polo World Cup and the World Aquatics Championships – three-time All-American Adrian Weinberg is off to another outstanding start in his fifth year at Cal. Weinberg currently leads the MPSF with 71 saves, averaging 9.6 per 32 minutes. He and the Bears' defense have been active and cohesive, allowing just one opponent to reach double-digit goals thus far. Weinberg had at least 11 saves in three straight games before facing Pacific, coming up clutch with a season-best 14 at Pepperdine and 13 at UC Davis in two games that went down to the wire.
PAPA BEAR
Center Nikolaos Papanikolaou's teammates call him the "best player in collegiate water polo," and with good reason. The Athens, Greece, native was already putting together one of the best careers the NCAA has ever seen by the start of the 2022 season, which ended with him scoring seven goals in the Bears' 13-12 national championship comeback win over USC en route to his second straight ACWPC Player of the Year award. Papanikolaou later became the program's first two-time winner of the Cutino Award, the prestigious annual honor given to the top player in NCAA water polo. The four-time All-American has scored 16 goals through seven games this season, giving him 226 for his career and moving him to No. 4 all-time at Cal. A day after he scored go-ahead goals in the final seconds of regulation and overtime in Sunday's 10-9 win at Pepperdine, Papanikolaou was named the MPSF Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career.
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. 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.
STRONG RETURNING 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 All-Americans are back, with third-team selection Valera joining first-team returners Casabella, Papanikolaou and Weinberg. Sophomore Albert Ponferrada (17 goals) and junior George Avakian (11) have both seen increased roles through seven games, currently ranking third and fifth on the team in scoring, respectively. In all, Cal brings back seven of the eight players who scored at least 20 goals last season.
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 445-129 (.775) and has won seven national championships at Cal, five coming as a coach and two as a player.
BEARS EARN NO. 1 PRESEASON RANKING
For the second straight year, the Bears began the season as the nation's top-ranked team, as Cal topped both the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) preseason poll and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) coaches poll. This marked the fifth time since 2008 that the Bears started the year with a No. 1 national ranking.
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).
