Home | Schedule/Results | Rosters | Coaches | Stats | News Releases | History | Camps

May 5, 1997

Bears Travel to Collegiate Water Polo Nationals

Thur.-Sun., May 8-11
at Collegiate Water Polo Nationals
Ann Arbor, Michigan

NOTING THE BEARS: In the No. 2 ranked California women's water polo team's (27-7) last match they fell to No. 1 ranked UCLA, 8-6, in the championship of the Western Regional Qualifying Tournament, Apr. 25-27, at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Cal made it to the championship match by defeating UC Santa Barbara, 9-4; USC, 3-1; Washington, 17-2 and Bay Area rival Stanford, 6-4. It was the sixth time the Bears had faced the Bruins this season. So far this year, Cal has given UCLA its only loss (4-3), Feb. 15 at the UC San Diego Invitational. Last season, the Bears gave the Bruins their only loss (8-7) in the finals of the Western Regional Qualifying Tournament. In 1996, UCLA defeated Cal, 8-4, in the Collegiate National Championship title match.

HEAD COACH MAUREEN O'TOOLE: Maureen O'Toole is in her second year as Cal's head women's water polo coach with a 59-13 (.819) career record. Last season, O'Toole led her squad to a 32-6 record and a second place national finished. She was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Northern Division Coach of the Year (in both '96 and '97) and Women's Collegiate I Division Coach of the Year by the American Water Polo Coaches Association. As a player, O'Toole is a 15-time MVP of the U.S. National Championships, a six-time world MVP and is a four-time national Sportswomen of the Year as named by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

NOTING COLLEGIATE NATIONALS: Collegiate Water Polo Nationals will feature 12 women's water polo teams from around the nation. The top seeded teams in the tournament include No. 1 ranked UCLA, No. 2 California, No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 San Diego State--all from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The tournament is divided into four brackets. The A Bracket consists of UCLA (27-1), No. 10 Maryland and No. 11 UC San Diego (4-16). The B Bracket consists of Cal, No. 7 USC (13-8) and No. 7 Massachusetts. The C Bracket consists of Stanford (22-7), No. 7 Santa Barbara (17-14) and No. 12 Michigan and the D Bracket is San Diego State (14-10), No. 5 Slippery Rock and No. 14 Indiana. The Bears will face Massachusetts Friday at 10:10 a.m. and USC at 7:30 p.m. So far this season, Cal has a record of 14-7 against the tournament field--including 1-5 versus UCLA, 3-2 against Stanford, 2-0 against San Diego State, 3-0 against UC Santa Barbara, 3-0 against USC, 1-0 against UC San Diego and 1-0 against Michigan. Cal has not faced Slippery Rock, Massachusetts or Indiana this year. Last year, the Bears defeated Slippery Rock, 8-2, in the national semifinals.

CAL PLAYER NOTES: The Bears have been led in scoring this season by Alisa von Hartitzsch (Tulsa, OK), sophomore two-meter Kailya Young (Vancouver, British Columbia) and freshman driver Colette Glinkowski (Danville, CA). Alisa, a junior transfer from Brown, has been a scoring machine for Cal tallying 106 goals and averaging three goals a match. Alisa was named co-MVP in the Western Regional Qualifying Tournament and also was the leading scorer in the tournament with 14 goals. Earlier this season, she was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Northern Division Player of the Year. Young is second on the team in scoring with 51 goals and was the Bears leading scorer last year as a freshman with 85 points and was a first team All-America selection. Glinkowski is third on the squad in scoring with 40 goals. Besides Young, other returning players who earned honors last season include sophomore goalie Evi Schueller (Mountain View, CA), who was a second team All-American, and this season was named MPSF Northern Division Goalie of the Year. Schueller, Young and von Hartitzsch were all named to the MPSF Northern Division first team, while senior driver Karen Cook (Foster City, CA) and sophomore driver Melanie von Hartitzsch (Tulsa, OK) were second team all-conference selections.