Friday, November 6
7:00 pm PT
California
vs
Fordham
Photo by: Emi Segovia/Cal Athletics
11/4/2026 12:53 PM | Men's Water Polo
Bears Look To Secure Perfect Home Record
The newly appointed No. 1 California men's water polo team will look to secure a perfect 8-0 home record Friday when it hosts No. 5 Fordham in a Senior Night matchup at Spieker Aquatics Complex. First sprint is set for 7 p.m. on Overnght with a special senior ceremony taking place during the pregame.
After spending the first eight weeks of the season as the fourth-ranked team in the country, the Golden Bears (14-4, 3-2) took down No. 1 Stanford two weeks ago to move into third. They then followed that up last weekend by sweeping the two Los Angeles teams at home defeating No. 1 UCLA 14-12 and earning an emphatic 18-11 win over No. 4 USC to take the top spot in the CWPA Poll for the first time since December 6, 2023.
Game Information
No. 5 Fordham (23-1, 12-0 MAWPC)
· Date and Time: Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. PT
· Location: Berkeley, CA | Spieker Aquatics Complex
· Live Stream: Overnght
· Live Scoring: 6-8
MILESTONE MET
Cal's win over UCLA marked head coach Kirk Everist's 500th career victory making him just the just the sixth Cal coach to hit the 500-win milestone joining Pete Cutino (men's water polo), Diane Ninemire (softball), Jack Clark (rugby), Rich Feller (volleyball), and Bob Milano (baseball). He is now 19 wins short of passing Cutino as the program's all-time wins leader.
BEARS SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS
After an incredible two-win weekend over top-4 opponents, Cal swept the weekly conference awards with Beso Akhvlediani being named the MPSF Delfina Player of the Week and Ilias Angelopoulos earning MPSF S&R Sports Newcomer of the Week.
Akhvlediani led Cal in goals and assists this weekend putting up back-to-back seven-point games to claim his first honor of his sophomore season. The Georgian went 3-for-5 (.600) with four assists, a drawn exclusion, and two field blocks against the two-time defending champion Bruins and went 4-for-6 (.667) with three assists and a drawn exclusion in a 18-11 win over the Trojans.
Angelopoulos led the Bears with seven drawn exclusions to earn the award for the second straight week and the third time this season. The freshman center from Greece had two goals and four drawn exclusions against the Bruins and got it done on both ends of the pool against the Trojans going 3-for-4 with three drawn exclusions, three field blocks, and a steal.
BESO BRINGING IT
Georgia native and sophomore attacker Beso Akhvlediani is doing it all in his second season as he currently leads the team in goals (52) and assists (39) and is third in drawn exclusions (14) The second team All-American from 2025 is also shooting .473 and ranks fifth with 10 steals.
He currently ranks second in the MPSF in points per game (5.06) and goals per game (2.89) and is fourth assists per game (2.17).
THE MEN IN THE MIDDLE
Cal's present and future look bright at the center position as senior Dominic Brown and freshman Ilias Angelopoulos have been a handful in the middle so far this year. Angelopolous currently leads the Bears with 31 draw exclusions and has netted 30 goals while Brown ranks second with 30 drawn exclusions and has scored 20 goals. They rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the conference in earned exclusions.
ILIAS EARNS SECOND NEWCOMER NOD
After two tremendous performances at home, freshman center Ilias Angelopoulos earned his second MPSF West S&R Sport Newcomer of the Week Award on Oct. 26. Angelopoulos notched five goals and three drawn exclusions as the Bears picked up two sure-handed wins defeating No. 6 Princeton 19-4 and No. 16 Pepperdine 22-11.
The Greece native went 2-for-4 with a team-high three drawn exclusions against the Tigers and followed that up with his third hat trick of the year to go along with a field block against the Waves. All these stats came in just three periods in the pool in each game with the starters being pulled in the fourth quarter.
PINA NAMED MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After a tremendous performance in the team's Big Splash win over No. 1 Stanford, sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina was named the MPSF Delfina Athlete of the Week on Oct. 19.
Pina was electric in the first 2026 meeting between the two historic programs collecting 12 saves and a steal in the Golden Bears' 12-8. The Spain native allowed just five natural goals with a .600 save percentage and held the top-ranked Cardinal to a season-low scoring effort to hand the Bay Area rival just its second loss of the season. Pina consistently showed up in huge moments for the Bears recording a penalty save and killing all six of Stanford's power play opportunities.
OVERNGHT MPSF INVITATIONAL
The Bears had a fourth-place finish at the Overnght MPSF Invitational at Stanford where after coasting through the opening rounds with big wins over No. 15 LMU (20-9) and No. 13 UC Irvine (16-8) came up short with one-goal losses against the top two teams in the country. After trailing by as many as five to No. 1 UCLA in the semi-final round, Cal made a late push and had a game-tying opportunity but ultimately fell to the eventual champion Bruins 11-10. Cal then saw its late lead lost at the hands of No. 2 USC in the bronze battle 13-12.
Sophomore Beso Ahkvlediani led all MPSF West players in the tournament with 12 goals and sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina ranked third with 29 goals.
BEARS SWEEP MPSF AWARDS
Sophomore attacker Tomas Perrone and freshman center Ilias Angelopoulos swept the weekly MPSF awards on September 14 with Perrone being named the MPSF Delfina Player of the Week and Angelopoulos taking home MPSF S&R Sport Newcomer of the Week honors.
After missing the first two weeks of the season to help lead Team Spain to a silver medal at the U20 European Championships, Perrone came back and made an immediate impact on the Golden Bears in his weekend debut. The sophomore had a seven-goal, 11-point weekend scoring on a .636 clip to lead Cal past No. 10 Pacific 18-7 at home and No. 6 UC Davis 19-7 on the road. He was 5-for-5 with 4 assists, including a first quarter hat trick, against the Aggies and chipped in two goals in his season debut against the Tigers.
Angelopoulos played a key role in Cal's two dominant top-10 wins netting a pair of second-half goals against Pacific before going 3-for-3 versus the Aggies to earn his first career hat trick. Two of the goals came on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter as a part of a 6-1 opening run that UC Davis could not overcome.
AGGIE ROUNDUP
The Bears picked up a pair of wire-to-wire wins at the Aggie Roundup defeating No. 18 Harvard 16-6 and No. 10 San Jose State 14-10 in a Saturday doubleheader. Beso Ahkvlediani had a 15-point weekend scoring a season high seven goals on the Crimson to go with three assists and four steals. Loui Schuler led all scorers in Cal's win over the Spartans netting a career high four goals and added a trio of assists and drawn exclusions.
TRITON INVITATIONAL
Cal fought through early deficits with powerful second-half play to collect two wins in the Golden Bears' first official day of competition at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla. Luke Bachler and Dom Brown tallied respective hat tricks in Cal's 14-9 victory over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara and 15-11 win over No. 12 host UC San Diego in Saturday's action at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla. Cal goalie Riley Clansen manned the cage for both games, topping out with 17 saves in the win over the Tritons to help the Bears to a 2-0 start to the year.
2026 PRESEASON POLLS
Both the CWP Preseason Poll and the MPSF Coaches' Poll shook out the same this year reflecting the final standings of 2025. The Golden Bears were picked to finish fourth in conference and nationally while reigning national champion UCLA was picked to threepeat. MPSF champion and national runner-up USC was ranked second, and national semifinalist Stanford took third.
FAMILIAR FACES
The Bears return 18 members of last year's roster including its five top scorers who combined for 171 goals and 232 points in 2025. That group is led by sophomore Beso Akhvlediani who was named a Second-Team All-American after leading Cal with 59 goals and 82 points while also becoming the program's first freshman First-Team All-MPSF selection since 2019. On the defensive end Cal gets back sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina who is fresh off a silver-medal finish as Spain's starter at the U-20 European Championships. Pina played in 21 of 23 games and compiled 166 saves and 29 steals.
2025 RECAP
Cal once again competed among the nation's elite during the 2025 season, facing one of the country's most demanding schedules in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and posting a 15-8 overall record. The Golden Bears battled a slate that featured every 2024 NCAA semifinalist and multiple top-10 opponents, highlighted by an impressive 13-11 victory over then-No. 2 USC. Individually, four Golden Bears earned ACWPC All-America recognition. Seniors Albert Ponferrada and Nik Mirkovic, along with freshman goalkeeper Aran Pina, received All-America honorable mention honors for their contributions throughout the season. The Bears also continued their tradition of academic excellence, placing multiple student-athletes on the MPSF All-Academic Team.
GOLDEN SUCCESS
The Bears have won 17 NCAA championships, including three in a row from 2021-2023, making Cal the winningest program in men's water polo history. During Kirk Everist's tenure as a head coach, he has been named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year five times (2006, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023), and the Bears have won six national championships (2006, 2007, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023) amid his 25 seasons at the helm.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on X (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
After spending the first eight weeks of the season as the fourth-ranked team in the country, the Golden Bears (14-4, 3-2) took down No. 1 Stanford two weeks ago to move into third. They then followed that up last weekend by sweeping the two Los Angeles teams at home defeating No. 1 UCLA 14-12 and earning an emphatic 18-11 win over No. 4 USC to take the top spot in the CWPA Poll for the first time since December 6, 2023.
Game Information
No. 5 Fordham (23-1, 12-0 MAWPC)
· Date and Time: Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. PT
· Location: Berkeley, CA | Spieker Aquatics Complex
· Live Stream: Overnght
· Live Scoring: 6-8
MILESTONE MET
Cal's win over UCLA marked head coach Kirk Everist's 500th career victory making him just the just the sixth Cal coach to hit the 500-win milestone joining Pete Cutino (men's water polo), Diane Ninemire (softball), Jack Clark (rugby), Rich Feller (volleyball), and Bob Milano (baseball). He is now 19 wins short of passing Cutino as the program's all-time wins leader.
BEARS SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS
After an incredible two-win weekend over top-4 opponents, Cal swept the weekly conference awards with Beso Akhvlediani being named the MPSF Delfina Player of the Week and Ilias Angelopoulos earning MPSF S&R Sports Newcomer of the Week.
Akhvlediani led Cal in goals and assists this weekend putting up back-to-back seven-point games to claim his first honor of his sophomore season. The Georgian went 3-for-5 (.600) with four assists, a drawn exclusion, and two field blocks against the two-time defending champion Bruins and went 4-for-6 (.667) with three assists and a drawn exclusion in a 18-11 win over the Trojans.
Angelopoulos led the Bears with seven drawn exclusions to earn the award for the second straight week and the third time this season. The freshman center from Greece had two goals and four drawn exclusions against the Bruins and got it done on both ends of the pool against the Trojans going 3-for-4 with three drawn exclusions, three field blocks, and a steal.
BESO BRINGING IT
Georgia native and sophomore attacker Beso Akhvlediani is doing it all in his second season as he currently leads the team in goals (52) and assists (39) and is third in drawn exclusions (14) The second team All-American from 2025 is also shooting .473 and ranks fifth with 10 steals.
He currently ranks second in the MPSF in points per game (5.06) and goals per game (2.89) and is fourth assists per game (2.17).
THE MEN IN THE MIDDLE
Cal's present and future look bright at the center position as senior Dominic Brown and freshman Ilias Angelopoulos have been a handful in the middle so far this year. Angelopolous currently leads the Bears with 31 draw exclusions and has netted 30 goals while Brown ranks second with 30 drawn exclusions and has scored 20 goals. They rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the conference in earned exclusions.
ILIAS EARNS SECOND NEWCOMER NOD
After two tremendous performances at home, freshman center Ilias Angelopoulos earned his second MPSF West S&R Sport Newcomer of the Week Award on Oct. 26. Angelopoulos notched five goals and three drawn exclusions as the Bears picked up two sure-handed wins defeating No. 6 Princeton 19-4 and No. 16 Pepperdine 22-11.
The Greece native went 2-for-4 with a team-high three drawn exclusions against the Tigers and followed that up with his third hat trick of the year to go along with a field block against the Waves. All these stats came in just three periods in the pool in each game with the starters being pulled in the fourth quarter.
PINA NAMED MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After a tremendous performance in the team's Big Splash win over No. 1 Stanford, sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina was named the MPSF Delfina Athlete of the Week on Oct. 19.
Pina was electric in the first 2026 meeting between the two historic programs collecting 12 saves and a steal in the Golden Bears' 12-8. The Spain native allowed just five natural goals with a .600 save percentage and held the top-ranked Cardinal to a season-low scoring effort to hand the Bay Area rival just its second loss of the season. Pina consistently showed up in huge moments for the Bears recording a penalty save and killing all six of Stanford's power play opportunities.
OVERNGHT MPSF INVITATIONAL
The Bears had a fourth-place finish at the Overnght MPSF Invitational at Stanford where after coasting through the opening rounds with big wins over No. 15 LMU (20-9) and No. 13 UC Irvine (16-8) came up short with one-goal losses against the top two teams in the country. After trailing by as many as five to No. 1 UCLA in the semi-final round, Cal made a late push and had a game-tying opportunity but ultimately fell to the eventual champion Bruins 11-10. Cal then saw its late lead lost at the hands of No. 2 USC in the bronze battle 13-12.
Sophomore Beso Ahkvlediani led all MPSF West players in the tournament with 12 goals and sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina ranked third with 29 goals.
BEARS SWEEP MPSF AWARDS
Sophomore attacker Tomas Perrone and freshman center Ilias Angelopoulos swept the weekly MPSF awards on September 14 with Perrone being named the MPSF Delfina Player of the Week and Angelopoulos taking home MPSF S&R Sport Newcomer of the Week honors.
After missing the first two weeks of the season to help lead Team Spain to a silver medal at the U20 European Championships, Perrone came back and made an immediate impact on the Golden Bears in his weekend debut. The sophomore had a seven-goal, 11-point weekend scoring on a .636 clip to lead Cal past No. 10 Pacific 18-7 at home and No. 6 UC Davis 19-7 on the road. He was 5-for-5 with 4 assists, including a first quarter hat trick, against the Aggies and chipped in two goals in his season debut against the Tigers.
Angelopoulos played a key role in Cal's two dominant top-10 wins netting a pair of second-half goals against Pacific before going 3-for-3 versus the Aggies to earn his first career hat trick. Two of the goals came on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter as a part of a 6-1 opening run that UC Davis could not overcome.
AGGIE ROUNDUP
The Bears picked up a pair of wire-to-wire wins at the Aggie Roundup defeating No. 18 Harvard 16-6 and No. 10 San Jose State 14-10 in a Saturday doubleheader. Beso Ahkvlediani had a 15-point weekend scoring a season high seven goals on the Crimson to go with three assists and four steals. Loui Schuler led all scorers in Cal's win over the Spartans netting a career high four goals and added a trio of assists and drawn exclusions.
TRITON INVITATIONAL
Cal fought through early deficits with powerful second-half play to collect two wins in the Golden Bears' first official day of competition at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla. Luke Bachler and Dom Brown tallied respective hat tricks in Cal's 14-9 victory over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara and 15-11 win over No. 12 host UC San Diego in Saturday's action at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla. Cal goalie Riley Clansen manned the cage for both games, topping out with 17 saves in the win over the Tritons to help the Bears to a 2-0 start to the year.
2026 PRESEASON POLLS
Both the CWP Preseason Poll and the MPSF Coaches' Poll shook out the same this year reflecting the final standings of 2025. The Golden Bears were picked to finish fourth in conference and nationally while reigning national champion UCLA was picked to threepeat. MPSF champion and national runner-up USC was ranked second, and national semifinalist Stanford took third.
FAMILIAR FACES
The Bears return 18 members of last year's roster including its five top scorers who combined for 171 goals and 232 points in 2025. That group is led by sophomore Beso Akhvlediani who was named a Second-Team All-American after leading Cal with 59 goals and 82 points while also becoming the program's first freshman First-Team All-MPSF selection since 2019. On the defensive end Cal gets back sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina who is fresh off a silver-medal finish as Spain's starter at the U-20 European Championships. Pina played in 21 of 23 games and compiled 166 saves and 29 steals.
2025 RECAP
Cal once again competed among the nation's elite during the 2025 season, facing one of the country's most demanding schedules in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and posting a 15-8 overall record. The Golden Bears battled a slate that featured every 2024 NCAA semifinalist and multiple top-10 opponents, highlighted by an impressive 13-11 victory over then-No. 2 USC. Individually, four Golden Bears earned ACWPC All-America recognition. Seniors Albert Ponferrada and Nik Mirkovic, along with freshman goalkeeper Aran Pina, received All-America honorable mention honors for their contributions throughout the season. The Bears also continued their tradition of academic excellence, placing multiple student-athletes on the MPSF All-Academic Team.
GOLDEN SUCCESS
The Bears have won 17 NCAA championships, including three in a row from 2021-2023, making Cal the winningest program in men's water polo history. During Kirk Everist's tenure as a head coach, he has been named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year five times (2006, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023), and the Bears have won six national championships (2006, 2007, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023) amid his 25 seasons at the helm.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on X (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
Players Mentioned
ATT
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C
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C
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GK
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ATT
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ATT
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A
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UT
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