Bears Close Regular Season At Stanford

FRIDAY, NOV. 15
NO. 7 CAL AT NO. 2 STANFORD | 6 P.M. PT
at SPIEKER AQUATICS COMPLEX | BERKELEY
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM (OVERNGHT)

The No. 7 California men's water polo team (11-10, 1-4 MPSF) concludes the regular season Friday evening in a Big Splash rematch at No. 2 Stanford (18-3, 3-2). This will be the third and final regular-season meeting between the rival schools, which split their first two games in Berkeley. The last time they met on Oct. 19, the Golden Bears came away with their best win of the year, scoring the final three goals of the fourth quarter to defeat the then-No. 1 Cardinal 13-11.
 

BEAR NECESSITIES
 

BIG SPLASH RUBBER MATCH
No team has scored more goals in a single game against Stanford this season than Cal, which earned its first win of the season over a top-five team in the Bears' thrilling 13-11 upset nearly three weeks ago. Senior Max Casabella struck five times in that game, putting in the go-ahead goal on a power play with 27 seconds left. It was also a breakout performance from redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Max LaGrange, who in his second start of the season reached 10 saves for the first time in his career and sent in a remarkable length-of-the-pool goal to help spark a 5-1 Bear run to close the contest.

In their other meeting on Sept. 22, the Cardinal never trailed en route to a 15-10 victory in the Overnght MPSF Invitational third-place game. William Kelly – who owns Cal's second-highest goal total this year with 22 – led the Bears with his first of two hat tricks during his junior season.

TO THE MAX
With 16 multi-goal efforts in 20 appearances, Casabella has been Cal's top offensive player by a significant margin. The three-time ACWPC All-American is the only Bear who has surpassed 25 goals this year, currently ranking fourth in the MPSF with 52 goals and fifth in points with 72. He earned his first career MPSF Player of the Week award on Oct. 21 after posting back-to-back five-goal performances in wins over No. 17 Santa Clara and Stanford. It was the second time in his career he scored five times in consecutive games, giving him 10 career outings with five or more goals. During the first weekend of the season, he set a career high with seven goals against No. 9 Pepperdine – tied for the second-most goals in a single game of any Bear since 1992. Casabella was also named to the Cutino Award Watch List for the second straight year on Oct. 17.

REST OF THE BEST
It's been a career year for Kelly, who became the fourth Bear this year to record a five-goal game in Cal's win over UC Merced on Oct. 12. Kelly (22 goals) is one of six Bears to reach 20 goals on the season, joined by Bende Pardi (21), Roberto Valera (20), George Avakian (20) and Jake Howerton (20).

Howerton is coming off two straight stellar performances in which he put up five goals in Cal's 20-14 defeat against No. 1 UCLA on Nov. 2 and three more in a 17-15 overtime defeat to No. 2 USC the following day. Avakian also owns an MPSF-best 51 earned exclusions.

2023 ACWPC All-America Honorable Mention Albert Ponferrada has scored 12 goals this season, but he has made his largest impact in the passing game with 39 assists that rank second in the MPSF.

*Cal 2024 Season Stats

MPSF REVIEW
Despite their 1-4 record in conference play, the Bears have been competitive against the nation's top three teams. In its three most recent MPSF contests, Cal set opponent season highs for goals against Stanford (13), UCLA (14) and USC (15).

LAGRANGE IN THE CAGE
Since becoming the team's starting goalkeeper five games ago, LaGrange has made the most of his opportunity. He is averaging 8.2 saves per game, reaching double figures on two occasions with a season high of 12 saves coming in Cal's most recent outing against USC.

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 471-144 (.766).

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.

STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).