No. 4 Cal Hosts Inaugural Matchup With No. 20 Saint Mary’s

Thursday, September 24

5:00 pm PT

California

Saint Mary's

Photo by: Daniel Moebus-Bowles/Cal Athletics

No. 4 Cal Hosts Inaugural Matchup With No. 20 Saint Mary’s

9/22/2026 1:01 PM | Men's Water Polo

Bears Welcome Gaels To Spieker For First Time

By: Cal Athletics

History will be made Thursday when the No. 4 California men's water polo team welcomes No. 20 Saint Mary's, a program in its inaugural season, to Spieker Aquatics Complex for the first matchup between the two Bay Area programs.

Following the game between the Golden Bears (8-2) and the Gaels (5-6), Cal will take on West Valley College in an exhibition.

Game Information

No. 20 Saint Mary's (5-6)
·       Date and Time: Thursday, Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, CA | Spieker Aquatics Complex
·       Live Stream: Overnght
·       Live Scoring: 6-8
·       Single Game Tickets

West Valley College
·       Date and Time: Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, CA | Spieker Aquatics Complex

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 (26), assists (16), and steals (8). The second team All-American from 2025 is also shooting .500 and ranks fourth with four drawn exclusions.

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. Brown currently leads the Bears with 14 draw exclusions and has netted nine goals while Angelopoulos leads the position group with 11 goals and is second with 10 drawn exclusions in 10 games.

OVERNGHT MPSF INVITATIONAL
The Bears are coming off a fourth-place finish at the Overnght MPSF Invitational at Stanford last week 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 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).