MPOLO9/3/2023 6:29 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Depth Shines For No. 1 Bears At Triton Invitational
Cal Opens Season 4-0
LA JOLLA – The No. 1 California men's water polo team finished off a clean sweep of its competition at the season-opening Triton Invitational Sunday, downing No. 7 UC Santa Barbara 16-10 and Cal State Fullerton 17-7.
The Golden Bears had 12 different goal scorers on the day, getting contributions from all over the roster as they improved to 4-0 for the third straight year.
Splitting time at goalkeeper were All-American senior Adrian Weinberg and newcomer junior Kai Seed, the latter of whom shined in his first start for the Bears with nine saves, three steals and a pair of assists in the win over Fullerton (1-3). Weinberg went for six saves in the win against the Gauchos (1-3).
Roberto Valera and Max Casabella scored five goals apiece for the second consecutive day. Fellow All-American Nikolaos Papanikolaou added a pair of braces to give him nine on the weekend.
Cal pounced on UCSB early with goals on each of its first two possessions by Valera and Ponferrada. The Bears took a 5-1 first-quarter lead after back-to-back penalty goals from Casabella and another scored on the inside by George Avakian. Ponferrada went on to set a new career high with four goals, scoring in every quarter against the Gauchos.
After leading 9-6 at halftime, Cal sealed the win with a solid third quarter. While their defense held a shutout for the entire period, the Bears scored three straight highlight goals, capped off by a slick lookaway strike by Valera.
In the final minutes, Casabella scored for a fourth time and freshman Carter Loth found the back of the net for the first time as a Bear.
No. 1 California 16, No. 7 UC Santa Barbara 10
Cal 6 4 3 6 – 19
UCSB 3 3 0 4 – 10
Cal Goals:
Albert Ponferrada 4,
Max Casabella 4,
Roberto Valera 3,
Nikolaos Papanikolaou 2,
George Avakian,
Nik Mirkovic,
Carter Loth
UCSB Goals: Dash McFarland 3, Luke Redoutey, Colton Gregory, James Oriskovich, Shane Hoover, Adam Gyenis, Nathan Darby, Logan Sutter
Cal Saves:
Adrian Weinberg 6
UCSB Saves: Levi Lentin 7
In Cal's afternoon game against the Titans, Fullerton scored first but the Bears had a huge first-quarter response, scoring on five straight possessions and eventually taking an 11-3 lead into halftime. Five of Cal's 11 goal scorers finished with multi-goal efforts, led by George Avakian's strong play at center.
Avakian finished with three goals and the Bears sealed the deal with a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter capped by back-to-back goals by Sam Untrecht.
On Monday morning, Cal finishes off its opening week of games against No. 20 Navy at 9Â a.m. at Coronado High School.
No. 1 California 17, Cal State Fullerton 7
Cal 6 5 2 4 – 17
CSF 1 2 3 1 – 7
Cal Goals: George Avakian 3, Roberto Valera 2, Nikolaos Papanikolaou 2, Sam Untrecht 2, Jake Howerton 2, Chris Ball, Max Casabella, Carter Loth, Nik Mirkovic, Jake Stone, William Kelly
CSF Goals: Togan Ozbek 2, Bende Aubeli, Julian Nichols, Dominic Hernandez, Nico D'Angelo, Jacob Hatch
Cal Saves: Kai Seed 9
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For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
