BEAR BITES
Off to a 3-0 start to the year, the No. 4 Golden Bears have their first home action coming up this weekend, as Cal hosts seven teams for competition at the Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational on Jan. 24-25 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
• The event features both official games and exhibition matches. Joining No. 4 Cal (3-0) for the event this year are: No. 1 Stanford (1-0), No. 3 UCLA (0-0), No. 6 Long Beach State (4-0), No. 9 Fresno State (3-1), No. 12 San José State (0-3), No. 16 UC Davis (2-1) and USA Academy.
• For the full competition schedule and links to live streams (overnght.com) and stats (6-8sports.com), go to the EVENT CENTRAL PAGE: https://calbea.rs/3LNJXX3
HONORING BRIGITTE
This weekend, Cal is set up to host the ninth edition of its early-season tournament known as the Cal Cup. Now named the Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational, the competition honors the memory of Brigitte Donner Daws, who played water polo at Cal from 1998-2002 and passed away tragically in 2020.
The inaugural Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational brings together high-level teams for competition at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Jan. 24-25, 2026.
Brigitte's family members have been invited to participate in a ceremonial ball drop ahead of the Cal-Fresno State game. At halftime of that game, there will be a special moment of remembrance for Brigitte along with all other alumni and members of the water polo community that have been lost in the past year.  
CAL'S COMPETITION
The Bears kick off the BDD Invite with an exhibition game against UCLA at 8 a.m. PT on Saturday before taking on Fresno State in official action at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. On Sunday, Cal has a 12:30 p.m. exhibition tilt with Stanford, and later bookends the event with a 5 p.m. meeting against San José State.

FOLLOW ALONG
All games at the BDD Invite will be streamed live on overnght.com. Live stats will be available for official games at 6-8sports.com.

LAST ACTION
Cal opened 2026 competition by earning three wins at the Polopalooza in Fresno last weekend. The Bears beat No. 15 Michigan 23-18 in a goalfest in game one, then put together a balanced and effective effort to beat No. 4 Hawai'i 14-9 on a foggy Saturday night. On Sunday, Cal utilized another strong opening frame to get out ahead of No. 8 UC Irvine en route to a 16-9 win over the Anteaters.
NOTABLE:
- Abbi Magee set a new career high with six goals vs. Michigan.
- Feline Voordouw tied her career high of five goals vs. Michigan.
- Holly Dunn scored a career-high three goals vs. Michigan.
- Despoina Drakotou scored her first goals as a Bear with her hat trick vs. Michigan.
- With 12 saves vs. Hawai'i, Talia Fonseca recorded the seventh double-digit save outing of her Cal career.
- Fonseca also scored a goal vs. the Rainbow Wahine.
- Julia Bonaguidi matched her career high of four goals vs. Hawai'i.
- With three goals vs. UC Irvine, Julia Bonaguidi has scored multiple goals in all three Cal games this season.
- With two goals each vs. UC Irvine, Feline Voordouw and Despoina Drakotou have both had multi-goal outings in all three Cal games.
- Freshman Reece Helsel scored her first goal as a Bear vs. UC Irvine.
- Freshman Lexi Nelson made her Cal debut vs. UC Irvine and recorded four saves in the fourth period.

DESPI MAKES HER MARK
Freshman Despoina Drakotou collected her first career award as a Golden Bears with this week's selection as the MPSF Newcomer of the Week.
Drakotou scored seven goals in her first weekend of work with Cal. She had a hat trick in her collegiate debut along with two steals to help the Bears beat No. 15 Michigan 23-18, then scored twice and tallied four steals and a field block as Cal upset No. 4 Hawai'i 14-9. Against No. 8 UC Irvine, Drakotou scored two more with an assist, steal and field block as Cal improved to 3-0 with a 16-9 victory over the Anteaters. She was one of three Bears to record three multiple-goal games at the event and is the first Bear to earn MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors since 2024.

BACK FOR MORE
Cal returns three of its top-five scorers from 2025. Gone are Ruby Swadling (55 goals) and Elena Flynn (48), but the Bears have Maria Bogachenko, Julia Bonaguidi and Abbi Magee all back after boasting a combined 107 goals last year. In their first seasons as Bears, Ezster Varro and Rosalie Hassett tallied 21 and 17 goals, respectively. In goal, Talia Fonseca capped up in all 25 games and averaged 7.4 saves per game for the Bears, with Elaia Hamilton making eight appearances in the cage.

NEW CREW
Cal welcomes many new faces to the pool for this 2026 season. Six true freshman are in the mix – Marina Brown (Santa Barbara), Despoina Drakotou (Athens, Greece), Reece Helsel (Clovis), Lexi Nelson (Menlo Park), Harper Price (Newport Beach) and Gabby Reichley (San Anselmo).

GOALIE CORPS
Cal has three talented goalies tabbed for duty this season, led by 2025 All-MPSF Honorable Mention recipient Talia Fonseca. Back for more action between the pipes is junior Elaia Hamilton, joined by true freshman Lexi Nelson to round out the Bears' defensive backbone.

WORLD STAGE
Six Bears stepped up for international duty during the summer at the World Aquatics U20 Championships in Brazil. Team USA – featuring Cal players Julia Bonaguidi and Rosalie Hassett with head coach Coralie Simmons on the coaching staff – captured gold medals at the event. Incoming freshman Despoina Drakotou also took home some hardware in helping Greece claim bronze. Also representing their countries were sophomore Holly Dunn with New Zealand and Hungarian sophomore Eszter Varró.

LAST SEASON
Cal is coming off a season where the Bears reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year. The 2025 squad went 19-6 overall and placed third at the MPSF Tournament. In their final seasons at Cal, three Bears earned All-America honors – Ruby Swadling (first team), Elena Flynn (second team) and Rozanne Voorvelt (honorable mention). All three also earned All-MPSF accolades along with redshirt sophomore goalie Talia Fonseca (honorable mention) and All-Newcomer honorees Maria Bogachenko and Rosalie Hassett. Swadling was the 2025 team's top scorer with 55 goals.

STAY POSTED
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