Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 44 Elena Flynn

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear.

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown:

44. Elena Flynn

Sport: Water polo

Arrival year at Cal: 2024-25

Previous school: UC Irvine (Flynn scored 103 goals with 31 assists and twice was named first-team ACWPC All-American while with at UCI from 2000 through ’23).

Contributions at Cal:

— Flynn ranked second on the team with 44 goals in 26 matches, adding 22 assists and 19 steals. She was named first-team ACWPC All-American and First Team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

— She had 11 multi-goal games in 2024 and twice scored a season-high five goals.

— As a senior in 2025, Flynn was again the Bears’ No. 2 scorer, putting in 48 goals, including four each in two early-season victories over top-20 opponents. She was chosen second-team ACWPC All-America - second-team All-MPSF.

— Including her time at Irvine, Flynn totaled 195 goals in her collegiate career.

Standout performance: Having already scored five goals in an early-season 16-7 victory over No. 13 Michigan, Flynn matched that total on April 27 to spark the Bears to an 11-6 road victory over third-ranked Stanford in MPSF play. She scored twice to help the Bears forge a quick 3-0 lead and also contributed an assist and two steals to the win.

Impact on her team: Flynn transitioned easily from Irvine to Berkeley and helped the Golden Bears win 19 games and land an NCAA tournament bid in each of her two seasons.

Previously on our list:

No. 45: Sakima Walker

No. 46: David Reese

No. 47: Xavier Carlton

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