No. 4 UCLA Heads East for Princeton Invitational

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LOS ANGELES – No. 4 UCLA (2-0) faces five ranked teams this week when it travels to compete in the Princeton Invitational. The Bruins begin with No. 17 George Washington (3-0) on Friday, Sept. 8 at 11:20 a.m. PT and will conclude play on day one with No. 18 St. Francis Brooklyn (0-4) at 3:20 p.m. PT. UCLA opens play on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 4:30 a.m. PT against No. 16 Bucknell (1-3) and concludes the day with No. 14 Brown (3-3). The tournament concludes on Sunday, Sept. 10 as the Bruins face No. 11 Princeton (4-0) in UCLA's first of four televised games of 2017 at 10:00 a.m. PT on ESPNU.

Princeton Invitational
Friday, Sept. 8

11:20 a.m.	UCLA vs.	#17 George Washington
3:20 p.m.	UCLA vs.	#18 St. Francis Brooklyn

Saturday, Sept. 9

4:30 a.m.	UCLA vs.	#16 Bucknell
9:30 a.m.	UCLA vs.	#14 Brown

Sunday, Sept. 10

10:00 a.m.

UCLA at

#11 Princeton

Bruin Veterans
UCLA returns six seniors and two All-Americans for the 2017 season. leading the way is the returning leading scorer, senior attacker Max Irving (24 games, 20 starts). Irving was a second team All-MPSF selection and an honorable mention All-American last season. He was 3rd on the team and finished 17th in the league in scoring with 30 goals. He scored at least one goal in 16 of 24 games he played, including 15 multiple goal games. He also had 37 assists (led the team), 25 steals (3rd on the team), 12 field blocks (2nd on the team) and six earned exclusions while tying for first on the team in sprints won with 17.

2016 Olympic utility Alex Roelse (21 games, four starts), also returns to the lineup after being named an honorable mention All-American and picking up honorable mention All-MPSF honors a year ago. He was 4th on the team and 13th in the MPSF in scoring with 29 goals, scoring at least one goal in 16 of 21 games he played, including eight multiple goal games. He also had 18 assists (6th on the team), 12 steals (tied for 8th on the team), three field blocks and nine earned exclusions (tied for 7th on the team).

Senior center Matt Farmer (26 games, eight starts) also returns after earning honorable mention All-MPSF accolades a year ago. He was 7th on the team in scoring with 21 goals, including seven multiple goal games. He also had three assists, five steals, five field blocks, and led the team with 39 earned exclusions and eight earned penalty shots.

Bruin Newcomers
UCLA head men's water polo coach Adam Wright assembled a stellar class for 2017, featuring nine freshmen and one junior college transfer. Headlining the group is Nicolas Saveljic (6-7, ATK, Kotor, Montenegro). The class also includes three players from Harvard-Westlake High School, two from Huntington Beach High School and one each from Damien High School, Palm Desert High School and Las Lomas High School. The student-athletes from Harvard-Westlake include Evan Rosenfeld (6-3, UTL, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Luke Henriksson (5-10, ATK, Bell Canyon, Calif.) and Felix Brozyna-Vilim (6-5, UTL, Santa Monica, Calif.). The two student-athletes from Huntington Beach HS include Patrick Saunders (6-2, GK, Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Quinten Osborne (6-4, CTR, Huntington Beach, Calif.). Bailey Jarvis (6-4, DEF, Walnut Creek, Calif., Las Lomas HS), Chasen Travisano (6-2, ATK, Glendora, Calif., Damien HS), and Ryan Sawyer (6-1, ATK, Palm Desert, Calif.) round out the eight freshmen in the class for 2017. The class also includes a sophomore transfer from Golden West College in Peter Lovas (6-3, ATK, Budapest, Hungary).

Who's Gone?
The Bruins lost a total of nine seniors to graduation, including five All-Americans. Attacker Ryder Roberts, the lone Bruin on the first team, was second on the team in scoring (35 goals) and led the Bruins in steals (38), field blocks (15) and was third in assists with 29. Attacker Patrick Fellner was the Bruins' only member on the second team. He led UCLA in scoring (39 goals) and also contributed 20 steals and 19 assists and led the Bruins in sprints won with 17. Goalkeeper Garrett Danner and center Gordon Marshall were both listed on the third team. Danner completed his UCLA career atop the leaders in saves (932) and set the all-time single-season record with 278 in 2015. Marshall was injured for most of the season, playing in only 14 games. He scored just six goals but drew 37 exclusions for third place on the team in that category in limited action. Defender Chancellor Ramirez was named honorable mention All-American, marking the third-straight honorable mention honor of his career. He scored a career-high 23 goals in 2016 and also added 12 assists and 10 steals. The Bruins also lost the services of MPSF All-Academic center Alec Zwaneveld (23 games, five starts, 16 goals, 11 steals, 20 drawn exclusions), goalkeeper Elliot Ordway (two games, six saves, two assists, 5.33 goals against average), attacker Joey Fuentes (28 games, five starts, 22 goals, 31 assists, 14 steals, four field blocks, five earned exclusions and nine sprints won) and MPSF All-Academic center Patrick Woepse (19 games, four starts, 12 goals, three assists, five steals, 38 earned exclusions and six drawn penalty shots).

Coaching Changes
The UCLA men's water polo team has hired Bruin standout Ryder Roberts to the post of assistant coach and has promoted Jason Falitz to associate head coach, head coach Adam Wright announced on Aug. 16, 2017. Roberts has spent the past two years as an assistant boy's coach at Harvard-Westlake HS, while Falitz has served the last two seasons (2015 and 2016) as an assistant coach under coach Wright.

Wright on Deck
Adam Wright begins his ninth season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2017 with an overall record of 208-33 (.863) and an MPSF mark of 50-10 (.833). His teams earned perfect APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores of 1,000 in 2014 and 2015 while winning the school's 112th and 113th NCAA Championships. On July 20, 2017, UCLA Director of Athletics, Dan Guerrero, announced that Wright will now guide both the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams.

Recapping 2016
Overall Record: 25-3 | Final Ranking: 3rd | Final National Finish: T-3rd | MPSF Tournament Finish: 2nd

In 2016, the Bruins completed a stellar season (25-3) that saw the squad set NCAA, UCLA and MPSF records for consecutive victories that dated back to the 2014 campaign. On Oct. 8, 2016, the Bruins set a UCLA record and tied the NCAA record with 51 consecutive wins with a 9-5 win at No. 4 Pacific. The next day (Oct. 9) the Bruins made history again, posting a 15-8 victory at No. 11 UC Davis to break the NCAA all-time record for consecutive victories in men's water polo at 51 straight wins. Before it was all said and done, the Bruins ran their record-setting winning streak to 57 games while also setting a UCLA and MPSF all-time league winning streak at 26 games. Senior goalkeeper Garrett Danner was named the MPSF Player of the Year for the second straight season and was one of seven All-Americans on the squad.

Bruins Picked to Finish Fourth in the MPSF
For the first time since 2011, the MPSF Men's Water Polo Preseason Coaches' Poll resulted in a tie on top. Defending NCAA Champion California and MPSF Champion USC, who battled each other for the national championship a year ago, totaled 13 points apiece in being dubbed the 2017 favorites in the conference. The Bears earned two first-place votes, while the Trojans earned one vote for the top spot. Cal welcomes back a strong nucleus including first team All-Americans Luca Cupido (senior), Johnny Hooper (junior) and Odysseas Masmanidis (junior). Senior Conor Neumann is a returning honorable mention All-American while sophomore Safak Simsek also returns after scoring three goals in the national title game. Meanwhile for USC, in addition to Cutino Award-winning goalkeeper McQuin Baron, eight All-Americans return — seven of whom will be playing out their final season. USC's top five scorers from 2016 are back in the water, with Blake Edwards, Matteo Morelli, Lachlan Edwards, Grant Stein and Marin Dasic each on the heels of at least 30 goals a year ago. Stanford collected 11 points and the remaining two first-place votes to place third in the poll. The Cardinal welcomes back redshirt seniors Jackson Kimbell, Connor Stapleton, and goalkeeper Drew Holland, each of whom missed 2016 but were starters and All-Americans in 2015. Stanford also adds freshman Ben Hallock, who redshirted last season after competing with USA Water Polo in the 2016 Olympic Games. UCLA finished fourth in the poll with nine points. Seniors Max Irving, Matt Farmer and Alex Roelse each return. Irving scored 30 goals and was named Second Team All-MPSF and Honorable Mention All-American last year. Roelse was Honorable Mention All-MPSF and All-American after scoring 29 goals, while Farmer added 21 goals and garnered Honorable Mention All-MPSF acclaim. Penn State Behrend, competing in its second season in the MPSF Tournament, returns all but one player from last year's roster and gains back Grant Garcia, the leading scorer and All-American in 2015. All-Conference rookie Isaak Hatopp also returns for the Lions after scoring 55 goals last season.

UCLA Preseason No. 4
The UCLA Bruins, which finished the 2016 season with a 25-3 record and a national finish tied for third and a final ranking of third, enters the 2017 campaign ranked fourth in the Collegiate Water Polo Association's (CWPA) Preseason Poll. The Bruins remain at No. 4 for the second straight week.

2017 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Preseason)
Rank	Team	2017 Preseason Poll	Points
1	California	1	98
2	USC	2	97
3	Stanford	3	90
4	UCLA	4	87
5	Pacific	5	80
6 (T)	Long Beach State	8	71
6 (T)	UC Santa Barbara	6	71
8	Pepperdine	7	68
9	UC Davis	9	60
10	Harvard	10	49
11 (T)	UC Irvine	13	47
11 (T)	Princeton	11	38
13	UC San Diego	12	37
14	Brown	15	37
15	Cal Baptist	16	29
16	Bucknell	14	20
17	George Washington	18	18
18 (T)	St. Francis Brooklyn	19 (T)	12
18 (T)	Loyola Marymount	17	12
20	Pomona-Pitzer	19 (T)	10

Others receiving votes: Air Force 6, Concordia 4, San Jose State 4, Navy 2, Wagner 1

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No. 4 UCLA Heads East for Princeton Invitational

2017 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Preseason)

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Players Mentioned

Felix Brozyna-Vilim

Garrett Danner

Matt Farmer

Joey Fuentes

Luke Henriksson

Max Irving

Bailey Jarvis

Peter Lovas

Elliot Ordway

Quinten Osborne

Alex Roelse

Evan Rosenfeld

Patrick Saunders

Nicolas Saveljic

Ryan Sawyer

Patrick Woepse

Alec Zwaneveld

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 4 UCLA Heads East for Princeton Invitational

2017 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Preseason)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Felix Brozyna-Vilim

Garrett Danner

Matt Farmer

Joey Fuentes

Luke Henriksson

Max Irving

Bailey Jarvis

Peter Lovas

Elliot Ordway

Quinten Osborne

Alex Roelse

Evan Rosenfeld

Patrick Saunders

Nicolas Saveljic

Ryan Sawyer

Patrick Woepse

Alec Zwaneveld

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