Cal Women's Water Polo Stuns Stanford, Goes For NCAA Title

Golden Bears topple their top-seeded rival, chase their first national title vs. USC on Sunday

Cal junior Julia Bonaguidi winds up to take a shot | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

Cal scored five straight goals in a span of less than 3 minutes in the third period, lifting the fourth-seeded Golden Bears to a stunning 13-11 upset of No. 1 Stanford in the semifinals of the NCAA championships at La Jolla on Saturday.

The Golden Bears (16-7) had lost their two previous matches against the Cardinal (15-2), who won the NCAA championship last season and prevailed three of the past four years.

Coach Coralie Simmons' squad will take aim at its first NCAA title Sunday against No. 3 USC (24-3). The Bears have twice been national runner-up, most recently in 2024, but never the champion. USC won both previous matchups vs. Cal this season.

Cal women's water polo | Cal Women's Water Polo Twitter

USC most recently won the NCAA crown in 2021 and has won six titles since the first women's national tournament in 2001. The Trojans topped No. 2 UCLA 11-10 in the other semifinal.

The championship match at the Canyonview Aquatic Center is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.

Cal led 5-4 at the end of the first quarter and the teams were knotted at 7-7 at halftime before the Bears took over.

Rosalie Hassett scored with 7:23 left in the third period to take the lead for good. Julianne Snyder made it 9-7 by scoring with 6:38 left before Julia Bonaguidi scored with 5:45 to play.

Eszter Varro’s goal just 21 seconds later pushed the margin to 11-7 and Abbi Magee capped the 5-0 blitz by scoring with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

The Bears had dropped four of their previous five matches before the start of the NCAA tournament. Cal topped Hawaii 15-10 in its quarterfinal match on Friday.

Magee, a senior attacker from Las Vegas, led the Bears with four goals and added an assist. Bonaguidi, a junior playing in her hometown of La Jolla, had three goals and two assists. 

Snyder contributed a goal and two assists, Hassett had two goals and one assist while Despoina Drakotou and Maria Bogachenko each chipped in a goal. Bogachenko’s goal with 4:53 left in the fourth period pushed the Bears’ lead to 13-10.

Jenna Flynn led Stanford with four goals and two assists.

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