Courtesy: Cal Athletics
THURSDAY, OCT. 17
NO. 9 CAL AT NO. 17 SANTA CLARA | 5 P.M. PT
at SULLIVAN AQUATIC CENTER | SANTA CLARA
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
SATURDAY, OCT. 19
NO. 9 CAL VS NO. 1 STANFORD | 11 A.M. PT
at SPIEKER AQUATICS COMPLEX | BERKELEY
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM (OVERNGHT)
SUNDAY, OCT. 20
NO. 9 CAL VS NO. 7 PRINCETON | 11 A.M. PT
at SPIEKER AQUATICS COMPLEX | BERKELEY
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM (OVERNGHT)
The California men’s water polo team (9-7) will stay in the Bay Area for a busy week against three top-17 teams, traveling to Santa Clara (9-4) for a Thursday evening contest before hosting a pair of 11 a.m. PT games against Princeton (15-6) on Saturday and top-ranked Stanford (14-1) on Sunday. The Golden Bears – who last weekend began a stretch that will see them play six out of seven games at home – split their home doubleheader this past Saturday, falling to Long Beach State 12-9 before defeating UC Merced 25-7 shortly after. Cal continues to be led by three-time ACWPC All-American Max Casabella, whose 37 goals rank second in the MPSF.
BEAR NECESSITIES
TO THE MAX
A two-time All-NCAA Championship First-Team honoree and crucial contributor during the Bears’ current NCAA three-peat run, Casabella has continuously shown up in big games, with his game high of five goals in last year’s 13-11 NCAA championship game win over UCLA providing a sign of things to come in his senior season. He has taken the reins as Cal’s go-to player on the offensive end, registering hat tricks in just under half of his appearances thus far for an average of 2.5 goals per game and 37 total goals. His seven goals against No. 4 Pepperdine on Sept. 8 are tied for the second-most goals in a single game of any Bear since 1992.
HOME SWEET HOME
Following Thursday’s trip to Santa Clara, Cal will play Princeton and Stanford at home for the second time this season. The Bears – who own a 27-6 record at home since 2021 and are 3-3 so far in 2024 – played their first games at Spieker Aquatics Complex during the Overnght MPSF Invitational (Sept. 20-22) and went 2-2 playing solely against top-15 teams. Cal opened the tournament by defeating No. 15 UC San Diego 14-11 behind a four-goal, four-assist performance by Casabella and followed that up with a strong team effort in a 15-10 win over the Tigers, getting multi-goal efforts from five players and the first double-digit save outing of the year by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Riley Clansen (11 saves).
Clansen topped himself with 14 more saves in the Bears’ 12-7 MPSF Invitational semifinal loss to UCLA and Cal closed out the weekend with a 15-10 defeat to Stanford.
HOT START
Casabella’s Spanish counterpart Roberto Valera owns the same distinction of winning an NCAA title and being named an All-American in each of his first three years at Cal. Despite missing significant time over the past four weeks, Valera still ranks near the top 10 in the MPSF in goals (20) thanks to a red-hot start to the season. He led Cal in goals in three of its first four games, highlighted by an eight-goal outburst against Pepperdine that saw him tie for the third-most goals in a game in MPSF history and went down as the most scored by a Cal player since its first year in the MPSF in 1992.
NEW ROLES, NEW FACES
With new responsibilities and opportunities up for grabs among Cal’s talented group of returners and newcomers, multiple Bears have made their presence known over the first half of the season.
Junior William Kelly became the fourth Bear to record a five-goal game in the Bears’ win over UC Merced, moving him into a tie with redshirt junior Bende Pardi for the third-most goals on the team with 17. Senior center George Avakian trails right behind them with 16 goals, while also sitting second in the conference with 41 earned exclusions. Freshman Maddox Arlett ranks sixth on the team with 15 goals, followed by junior Nik Mirkovic with 13.
2024 All-America Honorable Mention Albert Ponferrada has been finding his teammates at a high rate, sitting top-5 in the conference with 25 assists.
THE STAFF
Kirk Everist was named ACWPC National Coach of the Year for the fifth time last season after winning his sixth NCAA championship as the Bears’ head coach and eighth overall with the program. The USA Water Polo Hall of Famer is in his 23rd season at the helm of the program with an all-time coaching record of 469-141 (.769).
Joining Everist on the staff are third-year assistant coach Jakov Belamaric and former Golden Bear player Iosefa Tuiasau. Tuiasau – who played for Everist from 2009-11 – rejoins the Bears following two successful seasons as an assistant coach at Pacific and a highly successful coaching run in his native New Zealand at the high school, club and international levels. That included serving as an assistant coach for the New Zealand Women’s National Team and a stint at Rangitoto College that resulted in numerous trophies.
REPEAT SUCCESS
No men’s water polo program has won more national championships than Cal, which claimed its 17th on Dec. 3, 2023, after defeating UCLA 13-11 in the NCAA final. The historic win gave the Bears the distinction of owning three of the four three-peats in NCAA men’s water polo history.
