Courtesy: Cal Athletics
SAN DIEGO – The No. 2 California men’s water polo team put on an offensive clinic on the first day of the 2024 season, claiming a pair of wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 19-8 and No. 6 UC Irvine, 20-14 at the Triton Invitational.
With the departures of nine seniors from last year – including Paris Olympians Nikolaos Papanikolaou and Adrian Weinberg – the three-time defending NCAA champion Golden Bears headed into the year knowing there would be new opportunities on both sides of the ball, and that was reflected in the opening-day box scores.
Seniors Roberto Valera and Max Casabella picked up right where they left off in 2023, leading the way with seven and five goals on the day, respectively. Against the Anteaters, fellow ACWPC All-American Albert Ponferrada had a huge game with three goals and six assists, while George Avakian dominated in center with three goals and seven earned exclusions.
In the Bears’ first game of the day, they cruised to a double-digit victory over CMS behind four goals from Valera and three by Casabella. Cal took a 5-1 first-quarter lead and outscored CMS 10-3 in the second half. Maddox Arlett, Patrik Kolak, Alex Oprea and Bende Pardi all secured braces in their Cal debuts.
Taking on its first ranked opponent of the year in the evening, Cal found itself trailing 10-8 at the half. The Bears turned things on right out of the break, as Ponferrada converted a power play and then found Avakian for an equalizer less than two minutes into the third. Ponferrada added two more assists before the quarter’s end and Casabella scored twice to put the Bears up 13-12 heading into the fourth.
It was all Cal from there. The Bears started the final frame with an onslaught, getting a pair of quick goals from Valera and another two from Pardi and Arlett to go up 17-12 with 5:04 to go. Cal ended up outsourcing UCI 7-2 in the quarter after two late goals from senior Jake Howerton put the game to bed. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Riley Clansen – who played every minute in goal on Saturday – finished the game with seven saves.
Cal will finish out the Triton Invite tomorrow with games against Cal State Fullerton at 9:15 a.m. PT and No. 13 Pepperdine at 1:15 p.m.
No. 2 California 19, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 8
Cal 5 4 4 6 – 19
CMS 1 4 1 2 – 8
Cal Goals: Roberto Valera 4, Max Casabella 3, Maddox Arlett 2, Patrik Kolak 2, Alex Oprea 2, Bende Pardi 2, Jordi Gascon, Marci Szatmary, Piero Arienti, George Avakian
CMS Goals: Luke Weigle 3, Nick Kennedy 2, Ivey Gehring, Auggie Aliaga, Hassen Hove
No. 2 California 20, No. 6 UC Irvine 14
Cal 5 3 5 7 – 20
UCI 4 6 2 2 – 14
Cal Goals: Roberto Valera 3, Albert Ponferrada 3, George Avakian 3, Jake Howerton 2, Max Casabella 2, Carter Loth 2, Bende Pardi 2, Maddox Arlett, Jordi Gascon, Ryder Hagan
UCI Goals: Luka Krstic 3, Ethan Spoon 3, Jackson Matos 2, Stewart Campbell 2, Jack Stevens 2, Samuel Otta, Alex Lopez
Cal Saves: Riley Clansen 7
UCI Saves: Jacob Pyle 11
