Bears Release Stacked 2015 Schedule
BERKELEY – The Cal women’s water polo team’s 2015 schedule could feature every school that participated in last season’s NCAA Championship as well as 11 of the 20 teams that made up the final CWPA Top 20 in 2014.
The Bears’ 2015 schedule, which was announced Wednesday, also includes three exhibition matches against the Chinese National Team at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Cal will take on China on Jan. 11, Jan. 13 and Jan. 15 as a prelude to its season-opener on Jan. 17, when the Bears travel to compete in the Lou Tully Invitational at San Jose State.
The Lou Tully Invitational field includes defending national champion Stanford, host San Jose State, UC Davis and Santa Clara, each of which finished last season in the top-20. At the Santa Barbara Invitational the following weekend, the field will feature 2014 national runner-up UCLA as well as highly ranked opponents such as UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State.
The prestigious Stanford Invitational will be played during the final weekend of January and will include the host Cardinal, UCLA, San Jose State, UC Davis and 2014 NCAA Tournament participant Indiana. The Bears will also play in the UC Irvine Invitational on Feb. 21-22, which features the top-16 teams in the country.
Cal opens Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at UCLA on March 7. The Bears’ home opener will be against USC on April 4.
The Bears are coming off one of the best seasons in school history, in which they advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship and were ranked as high as No. 3 in the country.
Cal lost just one senior from last year’s squad and features 2014 MPSF Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-American Dora Antal, who finished second in the conference in scoring at 2.78 goals per game. Her 75 goals were the fourth-highest single-season total in Cal history.
Fellow sophomores Roser Tarrago and Anna Illes were All-American honorable mention last season. Tarrago finished 2014 ranked fifth in the MPSF in scoring at 2.04 goals per game.
Tarrago also is an accomplished international athlete, having won five medals in the past five international tournaments playing for her native Spain. She helped the Spaniards win the Gold Medal at the 2014 European Championships, the same tournament that saw Antal and Illes help Hungary take home the Bronze.
Cal’s 2015 team also features an elite recruiting class, highlighted by Carla Carrega of Italy, Kindred Paul of Canada and Kacey Avalos of Santa Margarita, Calif. Carrega led the Italians to the Silver Medal at last summer’s European Under-19 Championships. Paul helped the Canadian Youth National Team take the Silver Medal at the 2014 FINA World Women’s Youth Water Polo Championships. That team also included Emma Wright, another incoming Cal freshman who will start her college career when her obligations to the Canadian National Team are completed.