No. 1 Bears Take Top Seed Into MPSF Championships

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS
AT AVERY AQUATIC CENTER, STANFORD, CALIF.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20
NO. 1 CAL (20-2) VS. TBD | 9:30 A.M. PT 
LIVE STREAM (FEE BASED) | LIVE STATS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21
NO. 2 CAL vs. TBD, 1 P.M. OR 2:45 P.M. PT
LIVE STREAM

2021 MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19
5/6 Seed Game: Penn State Behrend (0-18) vs. Austin College (6-8), 9 a.m.
Game 1: No. 3 UCLA (16-3) vs. No. 6 Penn State Behrend/Austin College, 1 p.m.
Game 2: No. 4 Stanford (17-5) vs. No. 5 Penn State Behrend/Austin College, 2:45 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Game 3: No. 1 Cal (20-2) vs. Game 2 winner, 9:30 a.m.
Game 4: No. 2 USC (16-1) vs. Game 1 winner, 11:15 a.m.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Fifth Place Game, 11:15 a.m.
Third Place Game, 1 p.m.
Championship, 2:45 p.m.

The best that collegiate men's water polo has to offer will be on display this weekend at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center for the 2021 MPSF Championships. Cal, the No. 1 team in the country, earned the top seed for the tournament after winning the regular season title with an umblemished conference record. The Bears' first game will take place Saturday at 9:30 a.m. against the winner of Friday's game between No. 4 Stanford and either Penn State Behrend and Austin College. The winner of that game advances to Sunday's championship match.

 
BEAR NECESSITIES

BEARS WIN REGULAR SEASON MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP
Cal captured the MPSF regular season title after registering an undefeated 3-0 conference mark. The Bears beat USC by a score of 7-6 on Oct. 9 and then got by Stanford 12-10 in overtime on Nov. 6. Cal wrapped up the conference crown with a 16-9 win over UCLA last weekend. It marked the second straight regular season championship for the Bears.

RANKINGS REPORT
The Bears are the No. 1 team in the country for the second consecutive week. Cal began the season ranked No. 3 nationally and has been in the top-5 all season. Last season, the Bears were ranked No. 1 for four weeks. 

CAL SWEEPS MPSF POSTSEASON AWARDS
Cal won all three of the major MPSF postseason awards, as junior Nikolaos Papanikolaou repeated as conference Player of the Year and Kirk Everist did the same as MPSF Coach of the Year. Freshman Roberto Valera was named Newcomer of the Year, marking the first time in 13 years all three awards have gone to the same school. 

BEARS LEAD ALL-MPSF SELECTIONS
The Bears placed seven student-athletes on the All-MPSF Team, the most of any school. 2021 MPSF Player of the Year Nikolaos Papanikolaou and senior Jack Deely were named to the first team while graduate student Nikos Delgrammatikas and junior goalie Adrian Weinberg earned second team accolades. Newcomer of the Year Roberto Valera, fellow freshman Max Casabella and senior Miles O'Brien-Schridde each earned honorable mention.

EVERIST REACHES MILESTONE
Cal head coach Kirk Everist registered his 400th career win on Sept. 18 when the Bears defeated San Jose State at the Aggie Shootout. Now in his 20th season leading the Cal program, Everist has a career record of 410-125. Earlier this week, he was named the MPSF Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and the third time overall in his career. Everist has led the Bears to three NCAA titles, most recently in 2016. Everist was a three-time All-American as a player for Cal and went on to play for Team USA twice in the Summer Olympics.

DUNN DEAL
Junior Garrett Dunn, an All-MPSF Second Team selection last season, has come up big multiple times down the stretch for the Bears this year. He scored the game-winning goal with less than a minute to play in a 14-13 win over UC Santa Barbara then had two goals and three assists in a 15-11 victory over Princeton. Dunn also had the game-tying goal that sent the Big Splash against Stanford into overtime, and the Bears ended up prevailing, 12-10. 

BEARS AND THE MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Bears have won six MPSF tournament championships, but none since 2006. Stanford has won each of the past three crowns, including a win last season over Cal in the title game. The winner of the MPSF Championships earns the automatic berth to next month's NCAA Championships.