The 2012 season was an uneven one for the Cal men’s water polo team.
After a start that included the removal of five players due to code of conduct violations and a stretch of sub-.500 play, the Bears rebounded and finished just one win away from making it to the NCAA Championships.
Now entering a new season, Cal will try to get back to the consistent play normal for the 13-time national championship-winning program.
A key to bringing that consistency to the pool this fall is in the team’s level of experience.
Cal is returning eight of its top 10 scorers from last season, including senior Collin Smith and junior Aleksa Saponjic, who led the Bears with 61 and 45 goals, respectively. Cal also has senior Ayal Keren, who scored 18 goals in 2011, coming back after redshirting last year due to injury.
But scoring goals is only one aspect of the game.
The Bears also have strong players returning in the cage. Cal head coach Kirk Everist has the benefit of choosing between two goalies, senior Michael Boggan or junior Jon Sibley, who played more than a dozen games in 2012.
Sibley was selected as a honorable-mention All-American after last season, and Boggan had a goals—against average of just over seven goals per game.
“It is a healthy competition there,” Everist said. “Both have really good things that they do and different ways that they add to the team.”
Smith agrees.
“We have the best goalies in the country, in my opinion,” said Smith, a first-team All-American last season. “Knowing we have Jon, Mike or whoever else in the goal back there — it is a huge factor to our team.”
Strong goal tending and team defense will also help Cal score.
By forcing opponents into turnovers, shot clock violations or missed shots, the Bears can use their speed and ability to counter attack to gain advantages offensively.
“Our counterattack is by far the best part of our game,” Smith said. “We have a lot of guys who are really fast and really successful on the counterattack.”
The extra focus on the transition game is a slight shift from last year.
In 2012, the Bears could rely on senior captain Marin Balarin to provide a strong presence in front of the cage at the 2-meter position. But without Balarin and with inexperienced players filling in for him this season, the Bears will look to score early and often in transition.
“It is not going to be swim down slowly, set up and throw the ball to Shaq,” Everist said, referring to the style of offense centered around the former NBA basketball center. “We are going to need to push and try get stuff going before you set up your defense.”
Also key to the success of this year’s team will be handling the ups and downs that a season can bring.
Last year, after the removal of five players just weeks into the season, the Bears endured a stretch in which they lost six of their next 10 matches.
But in November, they rebounded, winning seven straight matches before falling to the eventual NCAA champion, USC, in the finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. A win would have given the Bears an automatic berth to the four-team NCAA Championships.
This season, the Bears were picked to finish tied for fourth in the preseason MPSF coaches’ poll. But with five All-Americans returning, Everist hopes that his team can use the confidence gained from last year to build into the 2013 season.
“It is an athletic, quick group that is geared around a couple very good goalies that are returning,” he said. “So we’re going to give people a lot of trouble.”
Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at [email protected].