Just five blemishes pocketed their season’s resume, the California Golden Bears again moonwalking their way through another men’s water polo season, attempts to chase a third straight NCAA title gone awry only a handful of games.
In October, they lost their first match to Stanford in a squeaker. In mid-November, USC scraped past them by just a hair.
Every other loss on Cal’s schedule had come against UCLA.
Three matchups. Three losses, all by two goals or more. They simply could not solve the Bruins, a program that had gone undefeated until a lackluster showing in the end-of-year MPSF tournament.
“We got to find a way to get over the hump,” Cal coach Kirk Everest said, “and make one more play than they do.”
They made exactly two in a 13-11 win over UCLA at USC’s championship-site pool on Sunday afternoon, clinching their third straight NCAA title — ensuring that the power of collegiate water polo, for all the talent in Los Angeles, still resides in Northern California.
The Bruins’ mantra before a semifinal win over Princeton, senior Jack Larsen said, was to focus on defense and let the offense come. In the first half against Cal, though, defense wasn’t focused enough and offense didn’t quite come, as the Golden Bears took a 9-6 lead at halftime, the Bruins’ defense struggling mightily to protect goalkeeper Garrett Griggs.
UCLA’s defense got active in the second half, forcing a number of blocked shots and limiting Cal to just four goals across the final two periods. A fourth-period goal by Cal’s Max Casabella, however, proved the dagger, as a late UCLA comeback attempt and score from Makoto Kenney was for naught.
Casabella led Cal with five goals, while Roberto Valera had four and scored a team-high six points. Rafael Real Vergara scored three goals for UCLA.
