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No. 4 Cal Men's Water Polo Travels to MPSF Tournament

Golden Bears (19-8) face No. 3 USC in opening round.

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Senior captain Keola Richardson and the Bears travel to Stanford this weekend for the MPSF Tournament.
 
Senior captain Keola Richardson and the Bears travel to Stanford this weekend for the MPSF Tournament.
  
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No. 2 Cal Men's Water Polo Wins, 7-4, at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara

No. 2 Cal Men's Water Polo Visits No. 9 UC Santa Barbara and No. 8 Long Beach State

No. 2 Cal Men's Water Polo Wins at No. 16 UC Davis, 11-4
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Nov. 23, 2004

BERKELEY, CA -

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Nov.26-28at MPSF Tourn,Avery Aquatics Complex, Stanford All Day

BEAR BITES: No. 4-ranked California (19-8, 3-5), fresh of its 6-5 Big Splash victory over No. 2-ranked Stanford last Saturday, faces its biggest challenge of the season this weekend when it travels to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship at Stanford's Avery Aquatics Complex. The No. 6 seed Bears open the MPSF Tournament against No. 3 seeded USC (20-4) Friday, Nov. 26 at 3:30 p.m. The Trojans have defeated Cal three times this season (11-6 at the SoCal Invitational Sept. 19, 14-10 at the NorCal Tournament Oct. 3 and 9-7 at Cal Oct. 9). The winner of the MPSF Tournament will get the automatic bid to the Dec. 4-5 NCAA Championship at Stanford. The last time the Bears won the MPSF Tournament was in 2002, when they finished as NCAA runner-up in coach Kirk Everist's first season. Cal is paced by leading scorer John Mann (58 goals) and junior goalie Nate Bennett, the Nov. 22 MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week, who had 12 saves in the Bears' upset of Stanford. Of Cal's eight losses this season, six have come versus teams ranked higher in the national polls. The Bears do have the distinction of giving No. 1-ranked UCLA one of its two losses this year, a 10-9 upset in the third-place match of the SoCal Tournament Sept. 19. Cal's last victory over USC was an 8-6 overtime win in the semifinals of the 2003 NorCal Tournament. The Trojans defeated the Bears, 11-8, in last year's MPSF semifinal.

THE BEARS' YOUNG TALENT: Cal has an impressive array of young talent with the Bears' top 10 scorers being either sophomores or freshmen. Mann has tallied at least one goal in 25 of 27 matches. He is fifth in the MPSF with 2.23 goals per game and has recorded five goals in a match three times this season. Sophomore driver Brian Bacharach is next on the Bears' scoring list with 44 goals, including knocking in the winning goal in Cal's 10-9 win over UCLA. He also tallied two goals in the Bears' Big Splash victory, and was the Sept. 5 MPSF Player of the Week with 12 goals at the Navy Open Sept. 4-5. Sophomore driver Andrija Vasiljevic, Cal's top returning scorer from last year (36 goals), has 37 goals this season, with 27 of his goals coming in the last 14 matches. Sophomore center Brian Kinsel, a 2003 honorable mention All-MPSF selection, has 33 goals on the year, and has scored at least one goal in 21 of Cal's 27 matches. Freshman Michael Sharf is fifth on the team in scoring (20 goals), led the Bears with three goals in their victory over UCLA. Sophomore Marty Matthies has 14 goals, is a leading defender for Cal and is considered the team's top all-around player by the Bears' coaching staff.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE: The MPSF Tournament, hosted by Stanford, features eight teams ranked in the Top 20 poll - No. 1 UCLA (21-2), No. 2 Stanford (19-4), No. 3 USC (20-4), No. 4 Cal (19-8), No. 5 UC Irvine (15-12), No. 6 Long Beach State (15-11), No. 7 Pepperdine (14-12) and No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (18-11). On Nov. 26, Cal will face USC at 3:30 p.m.. If the Bears win, they will play the winner of the Stanford-Pepperdine match at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 27. If Cal wins that match, it will play in the tournament championship at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 28. The Bears have a 5-8 record against the MPSF Tournament field this season.

CAL HISTORY AT THE MPSF TOURNAMENT: The Bears have won the MPSF Tournament four times since its inaugural season in 1992. Cal won the conference title in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2002. The Bears advanced on to win the NCAA title in 1992 and placed second in 1995 and 2002.

HEAD COACH Kirk Everist: Third year at Cal, 59-23 (.720). A 2004 inductee into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame, Everist was the 2002 MPSF Coach of the Year after guiding the Bears to the MPSF title and their first NCAA appearance since 1995. A 1990 Cal graduate, Everist led the Bears to NCAA titles in 1987 and `88, was a three-time All-American (86-88) and NCAA Player of the Year in 1988. He played nine years for the USA National Team (1988-96) and competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

DID YOU KNOW? Cal has won a NCAA record 11 national titles, including twice winning three NCAA titles in-a-row (1973-75, 1990-92). Eleven Bears have been National Players of the Year, including head coach Kirk Everist in 1988. From 1990-92, Cal had a record of 86-2 (.977 winning percentage), and won 47 matches in-a-row from Oct. 12, 1991 to Sept. 18, 1993.

IN HONOR OF Pete Cutino: On Sept. 19, Cal water polo coaching legend Pete Cutino passed away in Monterey. Cutino, a four-time NCAA and Pac-10 Coach of the Year, directed Golden Bear teams to eight national championships and a 519-172-10 career record during his 26-year tenure as head coach in Berkeley. His last team in 1988 won a school-record 33 games en route to a second straight NCAA title. While at the helm at Cal, Cutino coached 68 All-Americans, six Pac-10 and NCAA Players of the Year, and five Olympians, including current Golden Bear head water polo coach Kirk Everist.