Cal Water Polo Shows Promise With 13-11 Conquest of No. 1 Stanford

The three-time defending NCAA champion Bears have had a rough season by their high standards

Cal's Albert Ponferrada prepares to take a shot / Photo by Catharyn Hayne, KLC fotos

The Cal men’s water polo team has been the best in the nation for three years running. The Bears won NCAA titles in 2021, ’22 and ’23, giving them 17 all-time, most of any program in the sport.

But coach Kirk Everist’s lost two hugely important pieces off the ’23 squad, graduating Nikolaos Papanikolaou — perhaps the program’s best-ever player — and All-America goaltender Adrian Weinberg.

Both were Olympians in Paris last summer, Papanikolaou with Greece, Weinberg with Team USA.

The Bears have missed them both, perhaps Weinberg more than they expected. Cal’s defense hasn’t been what it was the previous three seasons, and the team hasn’t kept up with its chief rivals — Stanford, UCLA and USC.

Cal dropped to a tie for No. 9 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association national rankings. The Cardinal, Bruins and Trojans were 1-2-3, and owned a combined 4-0 record against the Bears this season, piling up 57 goals in those games.

It’s not just those three elite teams that have had the Bears’ number. Cal arrived at the weekend with a 10-7 record, which pales in comparison to last season’s 24-5 slate.

But Cal changed the narrative on Saturday, at least for one day.

Facing No. 1 Stanford in what they call The Big Splash in front of a full house at Spieker Aquatic Center on the Cal campus, the Bears scored a 13-11 triumph to pocket their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win in three tries.

Max Casabella scored five goals for the second game in a row, including the go-ahead score on a power play with 27 seconds left and William Kelly added a final goal with four seconds left to complete the upset.

Casabella, a senior from Mataro, Spain, leads the Bears with 47 goals.

Cal, which trailed 10-9 entering the fourth period, outscored Stanford 4-1 the rest of the way.

That closing flourish required solid play from redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Max LaGrange, who registered a career-best 10 saves while starting for the third consecutive game.

"We played for each other today," LaGrange told CalBears.com. "The defense was on it, the offense was special towards the end, firing away. It was a great day.

"It feels absolutely insane getting the opportunity to play in this lovely place. I love firing up the crowd. It's what I do.”

The Bears return to the pool Sunday at 11 a.m. against No. 11 Princeton.