No. 3 UCLA Opens MPSF Play at No. 4 California

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LOS ANGELES – No. 3 UCLA (19-1, 0-0) travels to Berkeley, Calif., this weekend to open MPSF play at No. 4 California (15-3, 0-0) on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 12:00 p.m. PT at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The game marks the first nationally-televised contest for the Bruins on the Pac-12 Networks during the 2018 season. Kevin Danna will call all of the exciting action.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Saturday, Oct. 27 (Spieker Aquatics Complex)
12:00 p.m. – No. 3 UCLA at No. 4 California

Saturday, November 3 (Spieker Aquatics Center)
3:30 p.m. –.No. 2 Stanford at No. 3 UCLA

Saturday, November 10 (Uytengsu Aquatics Center)
TBD – No. 3 UCLA at No. 1 USC (Pac-12 Networks)

Series History
UCLA leads the all-time series with California 87-67-1. The Bruins won this year's earlier meeting, 12-11, at the Mountain Pacific Invitational (more information about that game below). Last year, the Bruins went 2-1 against the Golden Bears with the only loss coming at home in MPSF play, 12-9 (Oct. 21). UCLA would later defeat California 8-5 in the MPSF Semifinals at Stanford on Nov. 17. Cal won the last meeting in Berkeley, Calif., 9-8 in overtime in the NCAA Semifinals on Dec. 4, 2016. The Bruins had defeated the Golden Bears on the road twice that same season, 7-6 in MPSF play (Oct. 22) and 10-7 in the finals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational (Sept. 25). UCLA Head Coach Adam Wright is 18-8 against California (10 years). Additionally, UCLA has won 11 of the last 13 meetings against California in the last five years.

Recapping Last Week
The Bruins were off last week and haven't played since a 12-11 win over No. 4 California in the third-place game of the Mountain Pacific Invitational at at Stanford's Avery Pool at Avery Aquatic Center on Sunday, Oct. 14. The Bruins were led by sophomore Luke Henriksson, who scored a career-high and game-high-tying four goals. Redshirt junior Alex Wolf started in the cage and went the distance, recording a season-high 14 saves while allowing 11 goals. Sophomore Nicolas Saveljic and senior Austin Rone each chipped in two goals. The Bruins received one goal each from redshirt freshman Bailey Jarvis, freshman Jake Cavano, senior David Stiling, and sophomore Evan Rosenfeld.

Cavano Named MPSF/KAP7 Player of the Week
UCLA freshman Jake Cavano (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach HS) was named the MPSF/KAP7 Player of the Week as announced by the league office on Monday, Sept. 17. The true freshman made a stellar debut last week, leading the Bruins in scoring with 10 goals in three games to help keep the team unbeaten. After missing the first eight games of the season, Cavano scored his first collegiate goal in a win at No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 13). He then had a team-high and MPSF season-high-tying five goals (on six shots) in a 16-10 home win over No. 10 Pepperdine, followed by a team-best four goals (on four shots) in a 14-8 win over Loyola Marymount in game two of Saturday's doubleheader (Sept. 15). He was 10-for-14 on shots for the week, while recording three assists, three steals and one field block over the three wins. This is the first career MPSF honor for Cavano. He was also named the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week.

Coaching Changes
During the offseason, UCLA men's water polo hired three-time NCAA Champion and Bruin standout Jack Grover to the post of assistant coach (replacing Ryder Roberts) and has added U.S. Olympian and former UCLA All-American Alex Roelse as an undergraduate assistant coach. These changes are following the 2017 promotion of Jason Falitz to associate head coach.

Wright on Deck
Adam Wright is in his 10th season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2018 with an overall record of 246-38 (.866) and an MPSF mark of 51-12 (.810). His teams earned perfect APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores of 1,000 in 2014, 2015 and 2016 while winning the school's 112th, 113th and 114th NCAA Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2017. On July 20, 2017, UCLA Director of Athletics, Dan Guerrero, announced that Wright will guide both the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams.

Recapping 2017
Overall Record: 21-4 | Final Ranking: 1st | NCAA Finish: 1st | MPSF Tournament Finish: 2nd

The Bruins finished the 2017 season by winning the program's 11^th NCAA Championship and the school's 114^th overall with a 7-5 victory at USC. UCLA finished the year with a 21-4 record, culminating in its third NCAA title in the last four years. Adam Wright was named MPSF and ACWPC National Coach of the Year. Six Bruins were named All-Americans with seniors Alex Roelse and Max Irving being named to the first team. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alex Wolf was named to the second team after being selected as the NCAA Tournament MVP. Also chosen as a second team All-American was the Bruins' leading scorer, freshman Nicolas Saveljic.

Bruins Picked to Finish First in the MPSF
Defending national champion UCLA placed on top of the 2018 MPSF Men's Water Polo Preseason Coaches' Poll, collecting the maximum possible totals of 25 points and five first-place votes. The Bruins, who have captured three of the last four NCAA titles, welcome back four starters and a pair of Second Team All-Americans from last year's 21-4 team. Junior goalkeeper and 2017 NCAA Championship MVP Alex Wolf returns as does sophomore team leading scorer Nicolas Saveljic (45 goals, MPSF 4th). Coming off an MPSF Championship and a 13th-straight NCAA Final appearance, USC finished second in the poll with 21 points and the remaining first-place vote. Only one true senior is on the Trojan roster this year in Zach D'Sa, who scored a career-best 26 goals for last year's 27-4 squad. USC also returns All-Americans Matt Maier and Marko Vavic, as well as Olympian Thomas Dunstan. Vavic was one of three players in the MPSF last year to put away at least 50 goals. California placed third in the poll with 16 points. The Bears return two of the nation's most prolific scorers from last year's NCAA Semifinal team in senior First Team All-American Johnny Hooper (47 goals) and senior Second-Team All-American Odysseas Masmanidis (40 goals). Olympians Hooper and Masmanidis both finished 2017 in the MPSF's top-six in scoring average. Stanford took fourth in the poll with 14 points. Led by First Team All-American and MPSF Newcomer of the Year Ben Hallock (54 goals, MPSF 2nd) and two-time All-American Blake Parrish (36 goals), the Cardinal welcomes back its top two scorers from last year's top-seeded MPSF Tournament team. Penn State Behrend had nine points to place fifth. Kyle Frerichs (20 goals), Isaak Hatopp (14 goals), and goalkeeper Matt Olimski (246 saves) are amongst the top returnees. The Lions will make their third appearance in the MPSF Championship Tournament. Austin College rounds out the preseason poll, transitioning from club status to its first-ever season on the NCAA level. Sophomores Andrew Pomier (GK) and Robert Griffin are projected as key starters after club level success. As with Penn State Behrend, the Kangaroos will not partake in the MPSF's regular season, but will compete in the postseason conference tournament.

2018 MPSF Coaches' Preseason Poll

Team	Points (1st Place)	2017 Record	2017 MPSF Tourney	2017 NCAA Finish
UCLA	25 (5)	21-4	2nd	Champions
USC	21 (1)	27-4	1st	2nd
California	16	20-4	3rd	T-3rd
Stanford	14	19-5	4th	n/a
Penn State Behrend	9	6-15	5th	n/a
Austin College	5	First Year	First Year	First Year

UCLA In The CWPA Poll
The Bruins, who claimed the 2017 NCAA Championship, remained in third place in the Week 8 CWPA National Men's Varsity Top 20 Poll (95 points), released on Oct. 24.

2018 MEN'S VARSITY TOP 20 (Week 8 - Oct. 24)
Rank	Team	Last Week's Poll	Points
1	USC	1	100
2	Stanford	2	95
3	UCLA	3	90
4	California	4	85
5	Pacific	7	79
6	UC Santa Barbara	5	75
7	Pepperdine	6	71
8	Long Beach State	8	63
9	UC Davis	9	60
10	UC San Diego	10	55
11	UC Irvine	11	51
12	Cal Baptist	15	44
13	Princeton	12	37
14	Brown	16 (T)	29
15 (T)	Harvard	RV	25
15 (T)	Santa Clara	13	25
17	Bucknell	14	21
18	San José State	19	16
19	Pomona-Pitzer	16 (T)	13
20	Loyola Marymount	18	9
RV	George Washington	20 (T)	6
RV	St. Francis Brooklyn	RV	3
RV	Wagner	20 (T)	1

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No. 3 UCLA Opens MPSF Play at No. 4 California

2018 MEN'S VARSITY TOP 20 (Week 8 - Oct. 24)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jake Cavano

Jack Grover

Luke Henriksson

Max Irving

Bailey Jarvis

Ryder Roberts

Alex Roelse

Austin Rone

Evan Rosenfeld

Nicolas Saveljic

David Stiling

Alex Wolf

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 3 UCLA Opens MPSF Play at No. 4 California

2018 MEN'S VARSITY TOP 20 (Week 8 - Oct. 24)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jake Cavano

Jack Grover

Luke Henriksson

Max Irving

Bailey Jarvis

Ryder Roberts

Alex Roelse

Austin Rone

Evan Rosenfeld

Nicolas Saveljic

David Stiling

Alex Wolf

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