Cal men's water polo

The Trojans’ offense had its best showing of the season series against the Bears, as USC scored double figures for the first time against Cal in its 2021 campaign.

Cal played a total of four matches this weekend, all against both of its Southern California rivals: UCLA and USC.

In Hooper, Masmandis and senior Vassilis Tzavaras, the Bears will lose a talented group, but head coach Kirk Everist has strong players waiting to step up in their absence.

After a hot start to their MPSF campaign, the Bears stumbled against the Trojans and Cardinal in key matches over the past couple of weeks. Those losses, however, could all be made up for with a strong showing this weekend.

That one goal decided the seeding for the upcoming Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, but the Bears were luckily able to maintain eligibility and salvage the No. 3 seed.

In this year’s edition of the Big Splash, No. 4 Cal men’s water polo welcomes archrival No. 3 Stanford to the Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday.

When Hooper scored his fourth and final goal of the day, time was no longer on the Bears’ side. The conference foe had gotten the best of Cal, and in the bigger picture, any chance of a regular-season conference title became an afterthought almost instantly.

For Cal’s sake, the squad certainly aims for a victory to dash any hope for USC and propel its own sights for success, as the Bears enter the final stretch of the season.

With All-American senior Odysseas Masmanidis back in the lineup, the Bears gain a huge advantage that they missed last time in their quest for revenge. His presence is felt on both sides of the ball in areas that do not necessarily show up on the stat sheet.

In a one-minute span midway through the fourth quarter, sophomore Nikos Delagrammatikas scored twice and gave the Bears their largest cushion of the day.