Cal Water Polo: Bears Ascend to No. 1 in National Rankings
Cal climbed to No. 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings on Wednesday after its performance last weekend that included a victory over then-No. 1 Stanford.
It’s the first time the Bears have been ranked No. 1 nationally since Nov. 8, 2017.
The Bears entered last week in a three-way tie with USC and UCLA for No. 2 in the CWPA poll, then beat the Cardinal, Trojans and UCLA over two days at USC. The new rankings have UCLA at No. 2, followed by Stanford and USC.
Asked Monday about the prospect of ascending to No. 1, coach Kirk Everist said, “At this point, I don’t know how much it means. One of the things we say a lot with our team is, `It doesn’t matter, get better.’
“Whether we’re 3-0 or 0-3 at the end of the weekend, we’ve got to go back to work. It was exciting, made the bus ride home a little better. But all these teams are really tight and it goes from hero to goat really quick if you don’t pay attention.”
Cal (5-2) was ranked fifth in the preseason poll released on Dec. 30, with Stanford and USC tied for first, UCLA at No. 3 and Pepperdine ranked No. 4.
The Bears have this weekend off and expect to play another round-robin style event at Stanford a week from now. All four of the powerhouse programs in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation —Cal, Stanford, USC and UCLA — will participate.
The results of that gathering and those from last weekend will be used to seed teams into the MPSF tournament the first weekend of March. From there, the winner advances to the six-team NCAA championships, set for March 18-21 at Stanford.
Asked if this team has national title potential, Everist said, “I think in a program like ours, that’s our goal. You can look yourself in the mirror and say on any given day you can win it.”
A year ago, with seven freshmen in their rotation, the Bears, made it to the MPSF title game before losing to Stanford 17-11. This team returns all seven of those and brings greater experience as a result.
“We have the talent to compete with anybody,” Everist said. “I’m happy with the overall quality of the team so far. They play hard, they play focused. If we can do that, we’ve got a shot.”
At USC, the Bears not only beat Stanford 16-11 on Sunday but scored a pair of victories on Saturday, knocking off UCLA and USC, both by scores of 11-8.
Two weekends prior to that at UCLA, Cal split two matches each vs. the Trojans and Bruins.