No. 7 Cal Heads To MPSF Championships
Bears Open Postseason Friday Against Augustana
MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS
at SPIEKER AQUATICS CENTER | LOS ANGELES (UCLA)
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM (OVERNGHT)
FRIDAY, NOV. 22
CAL VS AUGUSTANA | 3:30 PM PT
SATURDAY, NOV. 23
CAL VS UCLA | 3:30 PM
SUNDAY, NOV. 24
THIRD-PLACE GAME | 11:15 AM
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | 3 PM
The No. 7 California men's water polo team (11-11, 1-5 MPSF) heads to Los Angeles this weekend for the 2024 MPSF Championships hosted by UCLA. The Golden Bears will begin the postseason against MPSF-East school Augustana on Friday before facing either No. 1 UCLA or Washington & Jefferson the following day. After defeating then-No. 1 Stanford 13-11 on Oct. 19, the Bears fell in their final four regular-season games, all of which came against teams currently ranked in the top-six nationally.
BEAR NECESSITIES
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
After starting the year with the challenge of replacing Olympic-level talent on both ends of the pool following the departures of graduated seniors Adrian Weinberg and Nikolaos Papanikolaou, the Bears opened strong with a 7-1 record. However, they would soon be hampered by injuries to key players, including 2023 ACWPC All-Americans Roberto Valera – who hasn't played since September – and Albert Ponferrada.
Attacker Max Casabella became the Bears' primary offensive target, pouring in 16 multi-goal efforts in 21 appearances and leading the team with 53 goals and 75 points. His efforts down the stretch of the regular season – along with the ascendance of redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Max LaGrange – helped lead Cal to its last two wins. The Bears defeated No. 17 Santa Clara 14-10 (Oct. 17) and then-No. 1 Stanford 13-11 (Oct. 19) behind back-to-back five-goal outings from Casabella, but would fall in their final four contests.
MPSF REVIEW
Despite going 1-5 in MPSF play this season, the Bears have been competitive against the conference's top three teams. Over the last month, Cal defeated Stanford 13-11, scored at a high rate in a 20-14 loss to UCLA, and went back-and-forth in a near-upset 17-15 overtime defeat to USC. In those games, the Bears set opponent season-highs for goals conceded through four quarters.
Last year, playing at home, Cal came very close to winning the MPSF Championship for the first time since 2006, as the Bears knocked off Stanford in overtime 15-14 in the semifinals before being narrowly defeated by USC 13-12 in the final.
CAL LANDS 4 ALL-MPSF SELECTIONS
Led by Casabella's All-MPSF First Team selection, the Bears had four repeat all-conference honorees. Casabella – who earned his third consecutive first-team nod and fourth overall – was joined by second-team picks George Avakian and Jake Howerton and honorable mention Jake Howerton.
Avakian racked up a conference-best 63 earned exclusions while Ponferrada paced the MPSF-West with 41 assists. Howerton posted Cal's second-highest scoring total with 22 goals, highlighted by a two-game stretch earlier this month where he set a season high with five goals against the Bruins and added three more the next day against USC.
TO THE MAX
Casabella enters the postseason ranked fourth in the MPSF in both goals (53) and points (75), marks which lead Cal. In October, he was named to the Cutino Award Watch List for the second straight time and earned his first career MPSF Player of the Week award on Oct. 21 after scoring five goals in two consecutive games for the second time in his career. The three-time ACWPC All-American has three games with five or more goals this year, giving him 10 in his career.
During the first weekend of the season, Casabella 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.
LAGRANGE IN THE CAGE
Since becoming the team's starting goalkeeper six games ago, LaGrange has made the most of his opportunity. He is averaging eight saves per game, reaching double figures on two occasions with a season high of 12 coming in Cal's most recent outing against USC.
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.
