BEAR BITES
Off to a 5-0 start to the year after two busy weekends of work, the No. 4 Golden Bears are set to host a single game this week in Berkeley.
• On Saturday at 5:30 p.m., California will take on No. 17 Pacific (1-0) at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
• Cal's 5-0 start marks the third consecutive season the Bears have opened with five straight wins.
• Cal is 45-0 all-time against Pacific in a series dating back to 1996.

FOLLOW ALONG
Saturday's Cal-Pacific game will be streamed on overnght.com, and live stats are available at 6-8sports.com.

LAST ACTION
Cal hosted the inaugural Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational — formerly the Cal Cup — last weekend. The eight-team event featured official and exhibition competition as well as time to honor the event's namesake, Cal water polo alumna Brigitte Donner Daws, who passed away tragically in 2020. Members of her family were in attendance for a pregame ceremony in Brigitte's memory, with many alumni returning to Spieker Aquatics Complex for the event.
Meanwhile, in the pool, the Bears collected two wins in their two official games, beating No. 9 Fresno State 15-11 on Saturday and No. 12 San José State 21-7 on Sunday.
NOTABLE:
- Freshman Harper Price scored her first goal as a Bear vs. San José State.
- Despoina Drakotou (3 goals), Holly Dunn (3) and Mackenzie Walker (2) all tied their career highs vs. San José State.
- Goalie Talia Fonseca scored her second goal of the season with her buzzer-beater at the end of the third vs. San Jose State
- With two hat tricks apiece over the weekend, Feline Voordouw and Despoina Drakotou have both had multi-goal outings in all five Cal games.

DESPI DOUBLES UP
Two weeks into her Cal career, freshman Despoina Drakotou has earned back-to-back MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors. That makes her the first Bear to score more than one Newcomer of the Week award in a season since 2018.
    Her first selection came after scoring seven goals in her first weekend of work with Cal at the Polopalooza in Fresno. 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.
    Last weekend at the Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational, Drakotou recorded back-to-back hat tricks in Cal's two wins at the event, matching her career best in both games. In the 15-11 win over No. 9 Fresno State, she also served up three assists. And in a 21-7 win over No. 12 San Jose State, Drakotou added two assists, two field blocks and an assist. She has now recorded multiple-goal games in all five Cal wins this season to help the Bears to a 5-0 start to the year.

EURO ACTION
Cal has two Bears currently competing for their countries at the European Championships. Both had great success in their opening games, with Ezster Varró helping Hungary beat Spain in group play while Maria Bogachenko served up three goals for Israel to power past Switzerland. The tournament runs  through Feb. 5 in Funchal, Portugal.

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 Varró 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.

NEW CREW
Cal welcomes many new faces to the pool for this 2026 season. Six true freshmen 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 two talented goalies tabbed for duty this season, led by 2025 All-MPSF Honorable Mention recipient Talia Fonseca. True freshman Lexi Nelson rounds 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
For more coverage of Cal women's water polo, follow the Bears on X (@calwwpolo), Instagram (@calwwpolo) and Facebook (@calwwpolo).