2023 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship
- Friday, December 1-Sunday, December 3
- Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, CA
- Tournament Central
The 2023 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship wrapped up on Sunday at the Uytengsu Aquatic Center on the University of Southern California campus, with the University of California, Berkeley beating the University of California, Los Angeles, 13-11, for the national crown. It was the third consecutive title for the Golden Bears, and their 17th overall.
Cal 13, UCLA 11
From the Cal press release: LOS ANGELES – They didn’t want to talk about it all season long. So, no one really brought it up.
But, with so much proven talent returning and the established championship pedigree on their team, every Golden Bear knew there was only one real mission in 2023 – to become just the fourth men’s water polo team ever to win three straight national titles.
On Sunday, the Bears (24-5) accomplished that mission, defeating top-seeded UCLA 13-11 at Uytengsu Aquatics Center behind a third straight NCAA Championship MVP performance from Nikolaos Papanikolaou.
“Incredibly proud of these guys. Everything that they battled through this year,” Cal head coach Kirk Everist. “It’s only been done a few times. To be able to figure out how to win three in a row is something that’s very rare, but this is an extremely rare group. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
For much of the game, the only way the Bruins (26-3) could stop the two-time Cutino Award winner from scoring was by fouling him. In the four possessions following Papanikolaou’s seventh drawn exclusion early in the third quarter, the Bears got the separation they needed, scoring three unanswered goals to put them up 12-6.
UCLA clawed its way back and would have cut Cal’s lead to just two goals on a promising counter attack at the end of the third period if not for a heroic save by goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg. The three-time ACWPC All-American finished with 11 saves, including four in the fourth quarter.
The Bruins did eventually cut the deficit to 12-10 with 5:36 left in the game, but Max Casabella answered with a dagger from straightaway on the following play, lasering in his fifth goal straight down off the crossbar. Casabella and Weinberg both joined Papanikolaou on the NCAA All-Tournament First Team, while Jake Howerton earned second-team honors.
“There was a lot of adversity this season, but the best part about this group is we’re always going to stick together no matter how bad it gets,” Weinberg said. “I was pretty confident (since the start of the season) that we’d make it here.”
With time on their side, the Bears leaned on their defense and let the clock run out, cementing their place alongside Cal’s 1973-75 and 1990-92 squads as the only Golden Bear teams to win three straight national titles.
“It’s pretty nice. You don’t accomplish something like this without incredible players,” said Everist, who won his sixth NCAA championship as a coach and eighth overall. “It takes a lot more than just great players to do this time and time again though. I’m just grateful to have been around these guys.”
After missing the first two games of the tournament, Roberto Valera returned in a big way, contributing to more goals than any other player with four goals and two assists. Albert Ponferrada finished with game highs of four assists and three steals.
A send-off following a third straight championship game victory was always going to be the best possible scenario for Cal’s nine-man senior class of 2023 – eight of whom are in their fifth year as Bears. Everist reiterated how proud he was for all that they’ve battled through and accomplished for the program, while Papanikolaou and Weinberg lightheartedly joked about where this championship ranks among the three.
“I think both of us can agree that this one was very special because it was a culmination of everything we worked for,” Weinberg said. “It’s very special and it hasn’t really registered yet, but it probably will in about a week.”
Weinberg ends the year with 984 career saves, placing him at No. 3 all-time in MPSF history. Still fresh off winning a gold medal for Team USA at the Pan American Games in November, Weinberg is hopeful to continue competing at the highest level for Team USA as it prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Papanikolaou reached a tally of 253 goals which ranks No. 2 all time at Cal. But according to Everist, when it comes to overall Cal legends, that’s not where he places Papanikolaou in the rankings.
“I played with a guy who lives in Greece now. His name’s Chris Humbert. He, rightfully so, thinks that he’s the best player who ever played at Cal,” Everist said. “I keep telling him he’s the second-best player, but he would say, ‘I have 3 championships and [Papanikolaou] only has two.’ So, now I can text him and say, ‘Alright, take a step down.'”
No. 2 California 13, No. 3 UCLA 11
- Cal 4 5 3 1 – 13
- UCLA 2 4 3 2 – 11
- Cal Goals: Max Casabella 5, Roberto Valera 4, Nikolaos Papanikolaou 2, Garrett Dunn, Nik Mirkovic
- UCLA Goals: Rafael Real Vergara 3, Frederico Jucá Carsalade 2, Ben Liechty 2, Makoto Kenney 2, Marcell Szécsi, Giorgio Alessandria
- Cal Saves: Adrian Weinberg 11
- UCLA Saves: Garret Griggs 9
From the UCLA press release: LOS ANGELES – Top-seeded UCLA (26-3) fell short in the NCAA Championship game to the three-time defending champs, No. 2 California (24-5), 13-11, on Sunday afternoon at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Bruins fell to 93-77-1 all-time in the series history against the Golden Bears. Despite the loss, UCLA finished the season with the best record in the country and with a winning record over USC (3-1), Cal (3-1), and Stanford (2-1).
The Bruins had six players score in the contest, led by a hat trick from senior Rafael Real Vergara. Redshirt freshman Frederico Jucá Carsalade, freshman Ben Liechty and senior Makoto Kenney added two scores. Kenney was the leading scorer for the Bruins, scoring two goals and three assists for a total of five points.
Senior Garret Griggs got the start in the cage and went the distance, tallying nine saves while allowing 13 goals.
UCLA got on the board first with a goal at two meters from freshman Marcell Szécsi (6:45) off a nice feed from senior Giorgio Alessandria. The Golden Bears responded with a power play goal (6:03) to tie the game at 1-1. California would score three straight power play goals to take a 3-1 lead (2:13 and 1:11). The Bruins would respond with a penalty shot conversion by Real Vergara (0:58) that was drawn by Szécsi to cut the deficit to 3-2. But the Golden Bears ended the scoring in the first on a penalty shot (0:45) to take a 4-2 lead into the second period.
California scored the first two goals of the second quarter (7:39 and 6:13), both on power plays, to build a 6-2 lead. Liechty scored a power play goal off an assist from Kenney (5:36) to trim Cal’s lead to 6-3. Another power play goal from Cal followed (3:52), but Kenney answered it with a power play strike (3:23) to make it 7-4. UCLA scored back-to-back goals for the first time in the game when Frederico Jucá Carsalade scored a power play goal (1:43) off an assist from Kenney to cut it to a two-goal deficit at 7-5. Cal got its first goal of the game at even strength (1:15) to push the lead to 8-5. Another power play goal by the Golden Bears (0:27) stretched their lead to 9-5. UCLA ended the scoring in the second quarter with a power play strike from Real Vergara, his second of the game with 0:02 remaining, to make it 9-6.
The Golden Bears opened the scoring in the third with three straight goals (6:14, 5:34, 4:54) to build a 12-6 advantage. Liechty would score his second of the game on a power play off a feed from senior Jack Larsen (4:30) and Real Vergara would complete his hat trick on a power play feed from Larsen (3:20) to make it 12-8. Then Kenney hit senior Giorgio Alessandria for a power play score (0:52) to make it 12-9 heading into the final stanza.
The Bruins opened the scoring in the fourth quarter when Jucá Carsalade scored on a counter off a nice feed from Larsen (5:36) to make it 12-10. But Cal stopped UCLA’s four-goal scoring streak with a shot from the front court (5:09) to extend its lead to 13-10. Kenney would score his second on a backhanded shot off an assist from Larsen (3:19) to make it a two-goal game at 13-11. The Bruins had many chances down the stretch, but Cal’s defense stepped up to seal the win.
