Cal Women's Water Polo: Bears Began Quest For First NCAA Championship

Back in the event for the first time since 2019, Cal opens Friday against Michigan.

How did the Cal women’s water polo team prepare for this week’s NCAA Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich.?

Well, how about by playing a schedule in which all 21 of the Bears’ opponents were nationally ranked.

Cal, 16-5 against that gauntlet, is back in the NCAAs for the first time sine 2019, seeded No. 3 heading into Friday’s 3 p.m. PT first-round game vs. Michigan (26-8).

A few things to consider:

— The Bears won both games against Michigan this season, beating the Wolverines 12-8 back in January in a neutral-site game at Tempe, Ariz., then winning 13-8 at Michigan on March 25.

— Cal is 16-2 all-time vs. Michigan.

— The Bears are making their eighth trip to the NCAA tournament and have advanced to the semifinals each time with a win in the quarterfinals.

Three-time All-American Emma Wright said the Wolverines have the team’s attention.

“Last time we played Michigan they definitely gave us a good game,” she said. “I think we know this team well and, yes, they are strong. As long as we make sure we start out stronger and play our game, we won’t have any problems.”

The problem for Cal in this tournament has most often come in the semifinals. The Bears were eliminated one step shy of title game in 2017, ’18 and ’19. To get past the semifinals this year, assuming a victory over UM, Cal will likely have to deal with the only team in the field it has not beat this season.

USC toppled Cal in both meetings, but the Bears battled the Trojans on even terms most of the game two weeks ago before falling 10-8.

“USC obviously has a very strong team — all the top teams are very strong,” Wright said. “Honestly, I think it can be anybody’s game any day. It just depends on who comes out firing first and who is able to keep that momentum during the game.

“We got a little taste of blood, as they say, in the last game we played them.”

Isabel Williams / Photo by Catharyn Hayne, KLC fotos

Junior goalkeeper Isabel Williams, a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation pick, said the Bears are taking a positive attitude into the weekend.

“We’ve said it a lot, we just want to make some history,” Williams said. “Whatever we do, just making ourselves proud, giving it everything we’ve got. It was really tough not going last year — this is kind of an opportunity for us to come back and see what we’re made of.”

Cal has never won the NCAA title in women's water polo but Wright, who rejoined the Bears this season after spending the previous two years training with the Canadian national team for the Olympics, is motivated to reverse the three semifinal losses she experienced in 2017-18-19.

“It’s been a little frustrating for my last three years, just missing that last game by this much,” said Wright, who believes the Bears are playing their best right now. “I think our momentum has started to shift upwards again. Every single person on this team is just very excited and motivated and we want to win it all, obviously. We’re going to do everything possible.”

Wright’s journey at Cal has been unusual. She grew up in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada and was ready to begin school at Berkeley back in the fall of 2014. Instead, she deferred enrollment for two years while training with the Canadian national team in preparation for the 2016 Olympics.

The Canadians didn’t qualify, and Wright stepped onto campus for the first time in the fall of 2016. After three seasons, she again took a hiatus, prepping for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The pandemic postponed the Games for a year and when they were over last summer — Canada finished seventh — Wright returned for her second stint at Cal.

She is now 25, and talks in the video about the age gap between her and her youngest Cal teammates.

“It was interesting because I feel like when I first arrived everyone on the team kind of already knew each other,” Wright said. “I feel like in the beginning I was kind of like on the side. Here’s Emma over here, and here’s the team.

“Eventually I got to know everyone and they realized I was a normal person and that I wasn’t super intimidating. Just like some old hag.”

The "old hag" led the Bears this season with 48 goals and 30 assists.

Williams made her own way to Cal from Saverna Park, Maryland, about a half-hour south of Baltimore.

Water polo wasn’t popular where she grew up but a family friend lured her into the sport at the age 8. Older brother Ronan also got hooked, and he later played goalie at Navy.

Water polo is not a sport that attracts a lot of African American kids, but Williams has found inspiration in U.S. Olympian Ashleigh Johnson, who is considered to be the best goalkeeper in the world.

“I also want to go through this and share my experience with people who look like me, encourage them that it’s not just for one type of person,” Williams said.

Williams leads the MPSF with 10.6 saves per game and ranks fourth on Cal's all-time single-season saves list with 223. Her range at 6-foot-3 is an asset at goalie, but Williams said she never took to basketball.

"My mom played (basketball) so she wanted me on that path a little bit,” she said. "I tried it once and it did not fit. I did not like it at all. I am not coordinated on the land. Water polo is just a little bit more my speed.”

In water polo, only the goalie is allowed to touch the bottom of the pool. Although some pools back home were fairly shallow, most of those the Bears play in are 10 to 13 feet in depth. So Williams never touches the floor, requiring her to stay afloat all on her own.

“Honestly, with how long I’ve been playing, egg-beatering, swimming, it’s almost like walking to me,” she said. “It’s just the same.”

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The NCAA tournament bracket (times EDT): 

Cover photo of Emma Wright by Catharyn Hayne, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo