No. 1 UCLA Heads to Bay Area for Mountain Pacific Invitational

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LOS ANGELES – No. 1 UCLA (11-0) travels to Berkeley, Calif., this weekend for the Mountain Pacific Invitational, formerly known as the Kap7 NorCal Invitational. The top-seeded Bruins will open with Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, Sept. 23 at 1:00 p.m. at Northgate High School. Should the Bruins win, they will face the winner of No. 8 Pepperdine and No. 9 UC Irvine on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8:00 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Should the Bruins win that contest, they will play their semifinal game at 3:10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24 at Spieker. The championship game is slated for Sunday, Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m. at Spieker. The other top seven seeds include No. 2 USC, No. 3 California, No. 4 Pacific, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 UC Santa Barbara and No. 7 Long Beach State.

NorCal History
This week's Mountain Pacific Invitational, formerly known as the Kap7 NorCal Invitational, has been won by the UCLA Bruins in each of the last three seasons. This week's tournament is important to UCLA as it needs to win the title in order to keep its winning streak alive in its quest to set a UCLA consecutive wins streak (currently at 44, record is 50). .

UCLA Off to Hot Start
UCLA is 11-0 in 2016, running its winning streak to 44 games, the second-longest in school history. The school record for consecutive wins is 50 (from 1964-68).

Ruzic Named MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week
UCLA junior Aleksandar Ruzic (Rolling Hills, CA/Palos Verdes HS) was named the MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week today as announced by the league. He totaled 21 saves while allowing nine goals over two wins last week, including a career-high and MPSF season-high 17 saves in the Bruins' 8-6 overtime win at No. 7 Long Beach State (Sept. 17). Ruzic more than doubled his previous career-best of eight saves, established three other times, while also tallying a career-high five steals to go with one assist against the 49ers.

Who's Back?
UCLA, back-to-back NCAA Champions, returns five All-MPSF and seven All-Americans for the 2016 season. Headlining that group is first team All-American, National Player of the Year, MPSF Player of the Year and 2016 Cutino Award winner, senior goalkeeper Garrett Danner. Danner led the MPSF in goals against average (6.05) in 2015 and also in 2014. The Bruins also return a pair of first team All-Americans in senior center Gordon Marshall and senior attacker Ryder Roberts. Both players were also named First Team All-MPSF with Marshall scoring 23 goals (eighth on the team) and Roberts leading the Bruins with 57 goals (5^th in the MPSF).

The Bruins also return the services of a pair of third team All-Americans in senior attacker Max Irving and junior attacker Patrick Fellner. Irving was second on the team in scoring with 47 goals while Fellner was third with 40 goals.

UCLA also returns a pair of honorable mention All-Americans in senior defender Chancellor Ramirez and junior utility Alex Roelse. Ramirez scored 17 goals while current Olympian Roelse added 25 goals.

Who's Gone?
The Bruins lost a pair of second team All-Americans in Daniel McClintick and Anthony Daboub. Daboub was fourth on the team in scoring (32 goals) while McClintick was sixth (26 goals). The Bruins' fifth-leading scorer, sophomore attacker Spencer Farrar (30 goals) has transferred.

Freshmen Making Immediate Impact
Two UCLA true freshmen have earned caps and are making immediate impacts with the Bruins in 2016. Jake Simpson is currently seventh on the team in scoring after 10 games with 10 goals. He already has three multiple-goal games and has scored in six of the 10 games he has played. He has tallied six assists, five steals and has won three sprints so far this season. James Vlachonassios has scored seven goals (13th on the squad) in his first 10 games, including a hat trick in the win over Redlands (Sept. 4). He has registered 11 assists (tied for third) and six steals on the year.

Picking Up Where He Left Off
Senior Ryder Roberts is currently tied for the team lead in scoring with 15 goals (9th in the MPSF) and has played in nine of 11 games with six starts. He is second on the team in assists (15) and leads the squad in steals (16). Roberts led UCLA in scoring a year ago with 57 goals.

Ramirez Surging
Senior Chancellor Ramirez is currently sixth on the squad in scoring with 10 goals and has played in nine of 11 games with four starts. Last week he led the Bruins in scoring with five goals including a hat trick in the 9-3 win over No. 9 Pepperdine (Sept. 16). He has also registered six assists, four steals and two field blocks on the year.

Fellner on Fire
Senior Patrick Fellner is currently tied for the lead on the team in scoring with 15 goals (9th in the MPSF) and has played in nine of 11 games with four starts. He is tied for seventh on the team in assists (eight) and is second the squad in steals (12). He ranks tied for fourth in exclusions (seven) and has won five sprints (tied for third). He has scored at least one goal in each of the last seven games he has played, the longest active streak on the team.

Bruins Solid in the Cage
In the early going of 2016, the Bruins have used three different goalkeepers, including Cutino Award winner and last year's league (MPSF) and National Player of the Year, Garrett Danner. So far with just 7.44 quarters (1.86 games) played, he is averaging 9.7 saves per game while holding a 4.30 goals against average. Junior Aleksandar Ruzic has spent the most time in the cage, playing 33.56 quarters (8.64 games) while averaging 7.87 saves per game to go with a 5.01 goals against average. Redshirt freshman Jonathan Van De Velde played the second half of the Bruins' win over Chapman and has a saves average of 10.0 per game to go with his team-best 2.00 goals against average.

Setting the Tone
UCLA has only allowed nine goals in the first period over the first 11 games, its best defensive quarter, outscoring its opposition 38-9 in that span.

Hat Tricks Galore
UCLA has had at least one hat trick in 10 of 11 games and multiple hat tricks in four of the eleven contests. Additionally, the Bruins had four hat tricks in the 16-5 win over St. Francis Brooklyn as Ryder Roberts, Matt Farmer, Max Irving and Patrick Fellner each scored three goals against the Terriers.

Wright on Deck
UCLA Head Coach Adam Wright, the 2014 and 2015 ACWPC Coach of the Year, is in his eighth season in 2016 at the helm of the Bruins' program, sporting an overall record of 192-30 (.865), including a 48-9 (.842) mark in MPSF action. He was won two NCAA titles as a coach (2014 and 2015) and two as a player (1999 & 2000).

Recapping 2015
The Bruins ended the year with a 30-0 record and went a perfect 9-0 in the MPSF for its second-consecutive undefeated league season. UCLA went 4-0 on the year against USC, including a 10-7 victory in the NCAA Championship game to win its second straight NCAA title, the program's 10th overall and the school's 113th. The undefeated season was the first for UCLA since the 1969 team went 19-0, marking the fourth undefeated season all-time in NCAA men's water polo history. The Bruins enter 2016 with a 33-game winning streak (second-longest in school history) and a 24-game winning streak in the MPSF, a school record. The school record for consecutive overall wins is 50 (1964-68).

Picked to Win MPSF
For the second-straight year, UCLA has finished on top of the MPSF Men's Water Polo Preseason Coaches' poll, collecting the maximum possible 16 points and four first-place votes. Taking second in this year's poll is USC with 13 points and one first-place vote. National runners-up the last two years, the Trojans have reached the NCAA Championship game the last 11 seasons, winning seven titles in that span. They return their top seven scorers from last year, including All-Americans Blake Edwards (68 goals; No. 3 MPSF), Grant Stein, Lachlan Edwards, and Matteo Morelli. Olympians Thomas Dunstan (newcomer) and goalkeeper McQuin Baron are also on the roster. Finishing in the middle of the poll was California with 10 points, coming off a third-place finish at the NCAA Championship in 2015. U.S. Olympian Luca Cupido returns for the Bears, named first-team All-American and NCAA All-Tournament last year. Also back is the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Year Johnny Hooper (74 goals; No. 2 MPSF), as well as all-conference performers Odysseas Masmanidis (66 goals) and goalkeeper Lazar Andric. Stanford placed fourth in the poll with seven points. Back is All-American Goalkeeper Drew Holland. He enters 2016 with 742 career saves, two away from the school record and 12 away from breaking into the MPSF's all-time top-10. While three of its top-four scorers have graduated (including MPSF all-time leading scorer Bret Bonanni), the Cardinal welcome back Reid Chase (38 goals), Cody Smith, and Connor Stapleton, along with U.S. Olympian Ben Hallock as part of a six-member incoming class. Rounding out the poll of the five-team conference is first-year member Penn State Behrend. The Lions will solely compete in the MPSF Championship Tournament, not in the MPSF's regular season conference schedule. They return All-American Grant Garcia along with Troy Valkusky, and bring in top newcomers Andre Sardaryzadeh, Isaak Hatopp, and Greg Levet. Located in Erie, Pa., NCAA Division III Penn State Behrend comes to the MPSF from the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA).

UCLA Hosting 2016 MPSF Championship
UCLA is this year's site of the 2016 MPSF Championship Tournament, November 18-20, where all five teams will compete for entry to the NCAA Tournament. California will host NCAA's December 3-4. Since its inaugural season of 1992, the MPSF has captured all 24 NCAA titles in men's water polo.

Polling UCLA
The UCLA Bruins, which have been ranked at No. 1 for 20 consecutive weeks, dating back to week 12 of the 2014 poll (Nov. 26, 2014), were tabbed as the top-ranked team entering the 2016 season in the Collegiate Water Polo Association's (CWPA) Preseason Poll. The Bruins retained top billing this week (Sept. 21) and have owned that spot in 27 of the last 33 weekly polls.

2016 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Week 3/Sept. 21)
Rank	Team	Last Week	Points
1	UCLA	1	99
2	USC	2	96
3	California	3	91
4	Pacific	4	85
5	Stanford	5	81
6	UC Santa Barbara	6	73
7	Long Beach State	7	72
8	Harvard	9	58
8	UC Irvine	8	58
10	Pepperdine	9	56
11	UC Davis	12	47
11	Princeton	9	47
13	Bucknell	15	41
14	UC San Diego	13	39
15	Brown	14	34
16	Cal Baptist	16	17
16	George Washington	19	17
18	San Jose State	17	15
19	Santa Clara	20	8
20	Fresno Pacific	NR	7

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No. 1 UCLA Heads to Bay Area for Mountain Pacific Invitational

2016 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Week 3/Sept. 21)

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Players Mentioned

Anthony Daboub

Garrett Danner

Matt Farmer

Spencer Farrar

Patrick Fellner

Max Irving

Gordon Marshall

Daniel McClintick

Chancellor Ramirez

Ryder Roberts

Alex Roelse

Aleksandar Ruzic

Jake Simpson

Jonathan Van De Velde

James Vlachonassios

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 1 UCLA Heads to Bay Area for Mountain Pacific Invitational

2016 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Week 3/Sept. 21)

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Players Mentioned

Anthony Daboub

Garrett Danner

Matt Farmer

Spencer Farrar

Patrick Fellner

Max Irving

Gordon Marshall

Daniel McClintick

Chancellor Ramirez

Ryder Roberts

Alex Roelse

Aleksandar Ruzic

Jake Simpson

Jonathan Van De Velde

James Vlachonassios

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