CAL 2023 HOME OPENERS
SPIEKER AQUATICS COMPLEX | BERKELEY
SATURDAY, OCT. 7
NO. 2 CAL (12-1, 1-0) VS. NO. 1 UCLA (15-0, 1-0) | 1 P.M. PT
SUNDAY, OCT. 8
NO. 2 CAL (12-1, 1-0) VS. NO. 3 USC (10-2, 0-1) | 1 P.M. PT
Following a week off from competition, the No. 2 California men’s returns to the pool for its 2023 home openers this weekend at Spieker Aquatics Complex. On Saturday, the Golden Bears get an instant rematch with No. 1 UCLA, which defeated Cal 12-10 in the Bears’ most recent outing in the Overnght MPSF Invitational first place game. The following day, Cal takes on No. 3 USC for the second time this season. The Bears shut down the then-No. 2 Trojans in a road outing back on Sept. 9, claiming a dominant 12-5 win behind five goals by Max Casabella and 11 saves from Adrian Weinberg.
BEAR NECESSITIES
HOME SWEET HOME
After playing their first 13 contests away from home, the Bears will play eight of their final 10 regular season games at Spieker Aquatics Complex before hosting the MPSF Championships on Nov. 17-19. Cal went 9-0 at home last season and has won 13 straight home outings since 2021.
* Regular season home games will be non-ticketed events this year
PAPA BEAR
Center Nikolaos Papanikolaou’s teammates call him the “best player in collegiate water polo,” and with good reason. The Athens, Greece, native was already putting together one of the best careers the NCAA has ever seen by the start of the 2022 season, which ended with him scoring seven goals in the Bears’ 13-12 national championship comeback win over USC en route to his second straight ACWPC Player of the Year award. Papanikolaou later became the program’s first two-time winner of the Cutino Award, the prestigious annual honor given to the top player in NCAA water polo. The four-time All-American returned from a two-game absence to score nine goals in three games at the MPSF Invitational. His final goal of the tournament tied him with Ivan Rackov (235 career goals) for No. 3 all time at Cal. He is just 10 goals away from cracking the MPSF’s all time top 10.
BRICK WALL
Coming off an offseason in which he was Team USA’s starting goalkeeper in three different international tournaments – including both the Men’s Water Polo World Cup and the World Aquatics Championships – three-time All-American Adrian Weinberg is off to another outstanding start in his fifth year at Cal. Weinberg currently leads the MPSF with 111 saves, averaging 10.4 per 32 minutes. He and the Bears’ defense have been active and cohesive, holding opponents to single digits in 10 of 13 games. With 892 saves in his career, Weinberg is three away from tying UC Santa Barbara’s Chris Whitelegge (2012-15) for No. 5 all time in the MPSF record book.
SIZZLING SPANIARDS
Cal’s junior All-Americans have been powering the offense from the perimeter, resulting in a team-leading 32 goals for Casabella and 27 for Roberto Valera. Valera – who was named the first MPSF Player of the Week of the season – leads the MPSF in assists (40) and points (67). Casabella has scored at least three goals a team-leading seven times, including four games with at least five scores. His season high of five goals came in the Bears’ 12-5 win over USC on Sept. 9.
REPEAT SUCCESS
No men’s water polo program has won more national championships than Cal, which claimed its 16th in 2022 in legendary fashion by coming back from four goals down over the final six minutes to defeat USC 13-12 in front of its home crowd at Spieker Aquatics Complex. It was the second straight year that the Bears clinched the title against USC by the same final score. Out of Cal’s 16 championships, only two of them (1977, 2016) were not part of a back-to-back run. Only three times in NCAA men’s water polo history has a team completed a three-peat, with the Bears doing so twice from 1973-75 and 1990-92.
STRONG RETURNING CAST
The 2023 Bears are made up of a highly experienced group of returners that includes eight fifth-year seniors and almost the entirety of their championship-winning starting lineup. Four of Cal’s five All-Americans are back, with third-team selection Valera joining first-team returners Casabella, Papanikolaou and Weinberg. Sophomore Albert Ponferrada (22 goals) and junior George Avakian (13) have both seen increased roles through seven games, currently ranking fourth and fifth on the team in scoring, respectively. In all, Cal brings back seven of the eight players who scored at least 20 goals last season.
ALL HE DOES IS WIN
Kirk Everist began his 22nd season as Cal’s head coach fresh off his second straight national coach of the year honor – his fourth overall – and his record-breaking third consecutive MPSF Coach of the Year award. The USA Water Polo Hall of Famer owns an all-time coaching record of 448-130 (.775) and has won seven national championships at Cal, five coming as a coach and two as a player.
BEARS EARN NO. 1 PRESEASON RANKING
For the second straight year, the Bears began the season as the nation’s top-ranked team, as Cal topped both the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) preseason poll and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) coaches poll. This marked the fifth time since 2008 that the Bears started the year with a No. 1 national ranking.
BEARS WITH BRAINS
Excelling both inside and outside of the pool, the Bears hauled in numerous academic awards from the 2022-23 school year, including 15 ACWPC All-Academic nods – tied for the program’s most since 2009. They also brought in nine MPSF All-Academic and Pac-12 Honor Roll honors, while individually, Jordi Gascon earned a spot on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large Academic All-District Team.