No. 4 Cal Travels To Santa Barbara Invitational

BERKELEY - The No. 4 Cal women’s water polo team makes the trip south this weekend to participate in the Santa Barbara Invitational at UCSB. It will be a homecoming for senior Tiera Schroeder (Dos Pueblos High School) and sophomore Madeline Trabucco (Santa Barbara High School), who each hail from the Santa Barbara area.

BEAR NECESSITIES: CAL'S TOP STORYLINES, STREAKS & TRENDS

ALL-AMERICAN TRIO
The Bears feature three sophomores that earned All-American honors last season. Dora Antal was a First Team All-American as well as the 2014 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Year after scoring 75 goals, the fourth-highest mark all-time at Cal. Meanwhile, Roser Tarrago and Anna Illes each earned All-American Honorable Mention in 2014. Tarrago scored 49 goals and ranked fifth in the MPSF in scoring at 2.04 goals per game. Illes added 48 goals for the Bears. The All-American trio accounted for 49.7% of Cal’s overall scoring last season.

CARREGA MPSF NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Carla Carrega was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday after scoring five goals in two matches at last weekend’s season-opening LouStrong Memorial Tournament. Carrega, believed to be the first Italian-born player in NCAA women’s water polo history, led Italy to the Silver Medal at last summer’s European Under-19 Championships.

MADDY MAKES HER MARK
Goalkeeper Madeline Trabucco earned the starting role at the beginning of her freshman year last season and never let go, playing in 27 of the Bears’ 30 matches and twice earning MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors. With 185 saves, Trabucco already ranks seventh on Cal’s all-time career list.

CORSO CLOSES IN ON 200 WINS
With two wins last weekend, Cal head coach Richard Corso now has a career record of 188-79. Now in his 10th season in Berkeley, Corso needs just 12 wins to reach 200 for his career. Corso was the head coach of the 1996 Olympic Men’s Water polo team.

VIC’S VIEW
Senior Victoria Williams takes readers inside Cal’s program this season with her weekly blog, “Vic’s View” on CalBears.com. Each week, Williams will report on all things Bears taking place in and out of Spieker Pool.

ABOUT CSU BAKERSFIELD
• The Roadrunners opened the season with a pair of losses at the UCLA Invitational last weekend 
• CSUB led No. 16 Loyola Marymount after three quarters but ended up losing, 11-10 
• The Roadrunners were routed by No. 3 USC, 33-5

ABOUT AZUSA PACIFIC
• The Cougars return their top three scorers from last season 
• Junior Maryann Slama led Azusa Pacific with 56 goals in 2014
• The Cougars amassed a program-record 16 wins last season

ABOUT NO. 11 LONG BEACH STATE
• Junior Christina Kotsia is a two-time All-Big West Honorable Mention selection
• Match against the Bears will be Long Beach State’s season-opener
• Cal is 15-7 all-time versus the 49ers, including four wins in a row 

ABOUT NO. 17 MICHIGAN
• The Wolverines are under first-year coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi, the former coach at Cal State Northridge 
• Michigan returns All-American honorable mention selections Ali Thomason and Allison Skaggs
• Michigan went 21-13 in 2014