BERKELEY – As he prepares to play the final games of a storied collegiate career, Cal men's water polo senior Luca Cupido now knows that he can add his name to a select list of Golden Bear greats as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has announced he is the conference's 2017 Player of the Year.

Cupido, who will finish his career as a four-time All-MPSF selection, is one of six Cal players to earn all-conference honors. He is joined on the first team by junior Odysseas Masmanidis, who lands on the all-conference team for the third time. Junior Johnny Hooper also earns his third All-MPSF nod as a second team choice while junior Vassilis Tzavaras and senior Kevin Le Vine pick up their first as honorable mention selections.

A four-year standout and 2016 Olympian, Cupido continues to leave his mark on the long history of Cal Water Polo. He becomes the first Golden Bear to earn conference player of the year honors since Nick Kittredge in 1995 and is just the 13^th player in program history to win the award, joining Jon Svendsen, Mike Loughlin, Carlos Steffens, Kevin Robertson, Peter Cutino, Jr., Alan Gresham, current Cal head coach Kirk Everist, Rich Ambidge, Chris Humbert (twice), Chris Oeding, Troy Barnhart and Kittredge.

The award is certainly well deserved as the nation's most versatile player took a central scoring role in 2017. He enters the NCAA Championships as the MPSF's leading scorer with 57 goals and a 2.71 goals per game average. Cupido's abilities far surpassed his goal total though as he enters his final collegiate games with 44 assists, 46 steals, 18 field blocks and 32 ejections earned.

And, with Cal's season on the line, the senior co-captain stepped up when it mattered most, scoring with 11 seconds left in the third-place match at the MPSF Championships to force overtime against Stanford. He eventually scored the decisive goal in Cal's 10-9 victory over the Cardinal, helping the Bears earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.

Already a three-time All-American in the pool, Cupido is also one of Cal's most accomplished student-athletes. With a 3.45 cumulative grade point average, the two-time MPSF All-Academic selection continues to work towards a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Urban Planning and Sustainability.

Masmanidis continued a standout career at center in 2017 as the native of Athens, Greece ranks third on the team with 40 goals. Fresh off a summer in which he helped his native country win gold at the FINA Junior World Championships, Masmanidis returned to Berkeley to help defend the Bears' 2016 national title and he leads the team in ejections earned with 49 entering the NCAA Championships.

Hooper also starred in international play over the summer and, after returning from consistent duty with Team USA on both the senior and junior level, continued to thrive as one of the nation's top goal scorers. But, although he does rank second on the team with 47 goals, Hooper also thrived as a distributor in 2017 and he leads the team in assists with 49 entering the final tournament of the year. He also has 32 steals, 17 blocks and 11 ejections earned.

Tzavaras earned his first all-conference honor thanks to a year spent utilizing his own versatility in Cal's offensive attack. Another native of Athens, Tzavaras has 20 goals, 30 assists, 19 steals, 12 blocks and seven ejections earned as Cal heads to Los Angeles. His speed was particularly important in transition and the junior has scored eight goals on the counter.

Le Vine stepped into the starting lineup for the first time as a senior and has produced his share of memorable moments throughout the season to earn his first all-conference nod. Playing for the final time in his home pool, the El Cajon, Calif. native made 18 saves in an unforgettable 6-3 victory over USC. His 19 saves against UC Irvine ranked second in a game by MPSF goalkeepers and he also owns four of the conference's top 11 single-game performances in his only season as Cal's starter.

Cal returns to action on Dec. 2 when the Bears take on USC, Harvard or George Washington in a national semifinal match hosted by the Trojans. The match is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. For ticket information and a complete bracket, visit NCAA.com.