Kore Chan/Senior Staff

When men’s water polo captain Collin Smith was just 13 years old, he had already figured out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

And it wasn’t just water polo.

In the winter of his eighth-grade year, Smith was selected to attend a holiday training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Complex in Colorado Springs, Colo. For several days, the young native of San Diego joined other junior athletes from all over the country to learn under some of the nation’s top water polo coaches.

But during that week, Smith wasn’t solely focused on developing his water polo game. Another aspect of the winter camp caught his attention while he was in the pool training.

Despite the many U.S. National Team coaches and past Olympians Smith had the chance to learn from, the young teenager was more so drawn to the people who were working with the athletes and Olympians on the sidelines — people who Smith would later find out were called “biomechanists.” Biomechanists who work specifically in the field of sports analyze athletic movement and performance through the laws of mechanics.

His newfound curiosity sparked a possible career interest at the age of 13 — and since then, he has been set on working in the field of applied biomechanics, a branch of kinesiology focused on the study of body movement, to stay in touch with his love of athletics.

“It just kind of intrigued me,” Smith said. “When I was on that trip, I got to see firsthand how these people were able to work with athletes and stay around the sports world for so long — and that’s what I decided I always wanted to pursue.”

Juggling his passion for water polo and holding down an academically rigorous schedule was no easy task for Smith.

From the get-go, Smith had to rapidly adjust to handling a jam-packed schedule. As a talented freshman recruit, Smith made the men’s water polo travel team straightaway — a feat normally attained by more experienced veteran players. And as a regular sub off the bench, the freshman standout played in all 28 matches that season. Last year, the 6-foot-1 senior attacker led the team in scoring with a high of 61 goals and 31 assists — all the while keeping on track to graduate with a degree in integrative biology.

For Smith, competing in the pool against some of the top squads in the nation is in many ways similar to competing in the classroom. He likens exams to competitive tournaments, grades to trophies — and in developing a similar mentality to handle both major aspects of his life, he is able to succeed in a pool against six other opponents as well as in a lecture hall among a sea of 500 Berkeley students.

“Competing in the pool, you learn on a daily basis how you work best to build off each day,” Smith said. “Especially thinking about taking your undergraduate science classes where everyone’s just competing to get the best grade they can — you just have to focus on yourself, figure out what strategy fits you.”

According to Smith, if there’s one thing he’s learned throughout his past four years at Cal, it’s how to effectively manage his time so that he spends his day doing the things he values. His strategy? Find the sparse half-hour time slots he has in between his classes, weight training, video or pool practice and not squander them.

“Finding that time is hard, but you find these times, because they’re there,” Smith said. “And if something’s important to me, I’ll make time.”

In order to step back from his hectic schedule, Smith has found a home in the Christian community to give himself a breather. About 8 p.m. every Wednesday night, Smith joins about 30 members of the Christian organization Athletes in Action for worship and fellowship at First Presbyterian. For Smith, who comes from a strongly faith-based family, his Wednesday nights provide a sort of solace for him to slow down in the midst of weeks replete with nonstop activity.

“Those Wednesday nights — even though it’s not much — it keeps you there, it keeps you grounded,” Smith said. “It’s nice to have that time to spend with other athletes who share things beyond just being here at the same place.”

Smith knows exactly what he wants to strive for this year and the years following. After he graduates in May, hopefully with a national title under his belt, he will try for a spot on the U.S. national team — perhaps to play in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Whether he establishes a position for himself on the national team, Smith plans to obtain a master’s degree in biomechanics or kinesiology to continue working in the world of athletic sports for as long as he can.

But whatever happens for the ambitious senior in the near future, Smith believes that he has made all the right choices and sacrifices in his four years at Cal — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“When I came in, I had a goal to graduate in four years while competing for four years collegiately, and now that I’m looking back, I realize that all the sacrifices I made were all worth it,” Smith said. “Now that I’m here towards the end, having all the pieces come together — the fact that I’ve been able to do everything that I love doing and still feel like I’ve been part of enough, feel like I haven’t missed out — that’s the true reward.

“No matter what happens with our season, I’m absolutely happy with what I’ve been able to accomplish and what I’ve been able to be a part of here.”

Janice Chua covers men’s water polo. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/File

By the numbers, the Cal men’s water polo team performed as expected this weekend.

At the SoCal Invitational held in Irvine, Calif., the Bears (11-4) stayed true to their national ranking as the No. 5 squad in the nation — topping all the teams with lower national rankings, but losing out to No. 4 Stanford for the second time this season.

The Cal squad opened up the tournament with a match against No. 13 UC San Diego on Saturday. After dominating the Tritons in the first quarter, the Bears took a 5-1 lead into the second period with a four-point margin that UC San Diego would not be able to recover from. Junior goalie Jon Sibley finished the match with 13 saves, while freshman Thomas Carroll led the Bears in scoring with three goals in the first half.

With a victory in the first bracket of the tournament, Cal went head-to-head against its rivals from across the Bay on Saturday evening for a chance to reach the semifinals of the Invitational. Earlier in the season at the NorCal Invitational on Sept. 22, Cal dropped a 12-10 decision to the Cardinal in the final third-place match of the tournament.

Although Cal led Stanford 9-8 moving into the fourth quarter, three minutes into the period Stanford’s Alex Bowen scored to knot the game at 9-9. Sophomore Colin Mulcahy struck back with a five-meter penalty shot conversion to give the Bears a 10-9 advantage with four minutes left in the game. But then the Cardinal managed to shutout the Bears defensively and score three times in the last few minutes of the game to garner a 12-10 win.

On Saturday, the Bears just could not find their rhythm until the third quarter, but by then it was too late for the Bears to bounce back from Stanford’s strong offensive plays. Despite junior Aleksa Saponjic’s three goals, the Cal squad could not keep up offensively with the Cardinal, falling 14-8 to end play on Saturday.

The next morning, the Bears rebounded from a sluggish start against No. 9 UC Irvine by outscoring the Anteaters 6-3 in the second half of the match. Senior Hunter Gettelfinger contributed two goals during the third period when the Cal team defensively shutout UC Irvine, holding them goalless for the entire eight minutes. The Anteaters eventually fell to the Bears by two points, 11-9.

“I was happy with the team fighting back from a slow start,” said Cal coach Kirk Everist in an interview with calbears.com. “We got great offense from (Farrel) South and (Colin) Mulcahy and the team defense held UC Irvine to just two goals in the final 20 minutes.”

In the fifth-place match up against UC Santa Barbara, the Bears demolished the No. 6 Gauchos, 11-3, to end the weekend tournament with a 3-1 tournament record. The Cal squad kept UCSB’s offensive production to a bare minimum, only allowing the Gauchos at most one goal per quarter.

The Bears finished the SoCal Invitational in fifth place — and still lack a win from a top-five opponent. The squad will next take on UC Santa Barbara for the second time in a row in an MPSF conference match next Saturday.

Janice Chua covers men’s water polo. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Tony Zhou/Staff

One month into the season, the Cal men’s water polo team is still looking to secure a signature win. In the team’s most recent match against Pacific last weekend, breakdowns on defense and missed scoring opportunities in front of the goal were major factors in the Bears’ one-goal defeat.

“We got to get over the hump and finish somebody off,” said head coach Kirk Everist. “We’re close.”

So far this season, all eight of Cal’s wins came against teams it should have beaten considering the Bears’ high national ranking. The team’s three losses were against opponents ranked in the top five nationally. And the margin of defeat in all three matches was two goals or less.

Even with the disappointing losses, Cal is actually right where many people expected it to be. The Bears were picked to finish tied for fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference’s preseason poll. The MPSF Conference features the best collegiate water polo teams in the county. Currently, Cal is ranked No. 5 nationally.

The Bears still have seven weeks to improve their play before the MPSF Conference Tournament, where an automatic bid to the four-team NCAA Tournament is on the line.

This weekend’s UC Irvine Invitational will be an opportunity for Cal (8-3, 0-1 in the MPSF Conference) to win a coveted victory against a top-five opponent. The tournament features 14 of the 16 teams who took part in the NorCal Invitational at UC Berkeley four weeks ago, including all nine of the teams in the MPSF Conference.

The Bears open with a match against No. 13 UC San Diego on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. This is the second time the two teams have faced each other this season. Cal won the first meeting 13-10 at the Triton Invitational in early September.

With a win, the Bears would likely take on No. 4 Stanford at 4:50 p.m. for a chance to reach the semifinals. The Cardinal defeated Cal 12-10 in the third-place match at the NorCal Invitational. How the Bears fare in their first two matches will decide whom they play on Sunday.

Coming into the weekend’s matches, Everist is not planning on making any major changes to his team. “We pretty much know what kind of team we are,” he said. “We’ve got to play really good (defense), and we are fast. And we’ll push people.”

But the head coach did acknowledge the Bears are working on minor strategic and personnel changes. Everist said his players struggled in the half-court offense against Pacific when the Tigers slowed down Cal’s transition game.

He also said the team is trying to adjust to the loss of senior Ayal Keren due to injury. With Keren out of the lineup, sophomore Thomas Agramonte and redshirt freshman Farrel South have had to take on new positions.

In the cage, senior goalkeeper Michael Boggan, who made 14 saves in the loss to Pacific, will continue to split time with junior Jon Sibley. Both Sibley and Boggan have played in seven matches each.

And Everist reiterated that his players needs to finish scoring chances, and games, when they have the chance.

“When we get that opportunity to put one away, no matter who it is on our team, somebody’s got to step up and has to do it,” he said. “I have faith. They are good group. They are playing pretty well, but it’s tight out there.”

Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/File

This past weekend validated the Pacific men’s water polo team as a legitimate contender for the NCAA national championship.

On Saturday, the No. 4 Cal men’s water polo team (8-3, 0-1 MPSF) went head to head against the No. 3 Tigers in a 10:30 a.m. tilt at Spieker Aquatic Complex. After two quarters of back-and-forth scoring, Cal junior Aleksa Saponjic swiped a shot into the right corner of the cage to increase the Bears’ lead to a margin of two, 6-4.

But that was the last time any Bear would score.

The Tigers notched three points in the second half while holding the Cal squad goalless for 14 straight minutes. Pacific (10-1, 2-0 in the MPSF) eventually topped the Bears by a single point, 7-6, for its fourth-straight victory this season.

“We missed a lot of opportunities — we had a lot of good looks on the cage — but their goalie played really well, and we didn’t make them work as hard as we wanted to,” said Cal coach Kirk Everist. “He made some great saves that didn’t allow us to get one goal here, one goal there, and in a one-goal game, those make a big difference.

In the first period, Pacific senior Goran Tomasevic tallied the Tigers’ first point of the game, which would go unanswered by the Bears for the entire first quarter. Cal had several opportunities but was unable to score goals due to the strength of Pacific’s defense, especially in senior goalie Alex Malkis. He would eventually post 15 saves in the game.

“We had really solid looks on the cage and the right guys with their hands on the ball that we wanted to have their hands on the ball, but we just weren’t able to convert really any of them,” Everist said.

Tomasevic scored the Tigers’ second goal to start off the second quarter, but the Bears answered with a swift backhand shot by junior Luka Ivanovic, assisted by sophomore attacker Mitchell Hamilton. Ivanovic’s goal initiated Cal’s second-period comeback, with sophomore Colin Mulcahy notching another goal for the Bears 30 seconds later during an offensive counterattack to tie the game at 2-2.

Senior Hunter Gettelfinger also contributed a goal during the second quarter, and Saponjic rounded out Cal’s first-half production with an impressive lobbed shot into the net.

However, after Saponjic’s goal at the start of the third period, the Tigers managed to stage their own comeback. Pacific’s Balazs Erdelyi — the 2012 collegiate water polo player of the year — knotted the game at 6-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Malkis later blocked seven of Cal’s shots in the fourth period, shutting down the Bears’ offense, while Tomasevic garnered Pacific’s final goal with a two-meter shot. In the last few minutes of the game, the Tigers stalled during every ball possession they had to run down the shot clock until the end of the match.

“They were a little out of gas, and they definitely didn’t want to come down and set up an offense, have a turnover and have us counter out,” Everist said. “They were taking away our counterattack game and forcing us to score in the front court.”

Despite the close loss, Everist felt the final score met his expectations for the result of the matchup between two of the top teams in the nation.

“We had some opportunities to sneak ahead of them in a few goals, but they made good individual plays,” Everist said. “We knew it was going to be a one-goal game, a tough one for both teams — and it turned out to be just that.”

Janice Chua covers men’s water polo. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/File

Historically, collegiate water polo has been dominated by four teams. Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC have captured all but five national championships. The last time one of the four did not win a national title was in 1997, when Pepperdine University defeated USC.

This season, the University of the Pacific looks to be the team that could join, and possibly surpass, the four teams at the top of the sport. The Tigers were picked to finish third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s preseason coaches’ poll, ahead of UCLA and Cal, and they validated that high ranking with a win over Stanford last Sunday.

In the most recent Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings, released Wednesday, Pacific moved to No. 3 nationally. The third-overall ranking is tied for the highest ever in program history, with the first coming earlier this season.

So when the Tigers (9-1, 1-0 in the MPSF) take on No. 4 Cal (8-2, 0-0 MPSF) at Spieker Aquatic Complex at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, they will have another chance to validate their rise in the collegiate water polo ranks.

But according to Bears’ senior Collin Smith, the Tigers are already there.

“We have to treat them just as we have to treat any other team like USC, Stanford and UCLA,” Smith said. “They’ve earned that right.”

Saturday’s match will be another test for the Tigers to prove they deserve to be considered a legitimate title contender.

“That, to me, is very interesting,” said Greg Mescall, who will be the analyst for the Pac-12 Network’s broadcast of the match. “To see how this team can line up and if Cal can respond to that challenge.”

And the Bears will be challenged. The Tigers have a number of high-level players on their roster, which means the team has the skill to beat anyone.

Last year, Pacific finished the season sixth overall at the MPSF conference tournament. In the regular season, the Bears and the Tigers split their two meetings, with both matches decided by two goals or fewer.

But Croatian two-meter player Goran Tomasevic redshirted last season, and the three-time All-American’s strong presence inside is a welcomed readdition to the Tigers’ team.

Tomasevic is joined by senior attacker Balazs Erdelyi, who was the 2012 winner of the Peter J. Cutino Award. The award, named after a former Cal coach, is given each year to the best male and female collegiate water polo player in the country. The Hungarian scored 83 goals last season.

Tomasevic and Erdelyi are joined offensively by junior Alex Obert and sophomore Aleksandar Petrovic, who both earned All-American honors last season.

With all of the potential scorers for the Tigers, Cal’s team defense will be key. UOP scored 14 times in their win over Stanford, a total the Bears will want to limit.

“If (Cal) can force them to rush their shots and fluster them on offense, I think that will go a long way,” Mescall said.

But whether or not the Tigers win Saturday, the potential of having a nontraditional team join the competition for a national title is refreshing for fans.

“Any time you have more teams playing at a higher level, it is better for the sport,” Mescall said.

Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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After losing two close matches last Sunday in the final day of the NorCal Invitational, the Bears (8-2) outscored their nonconference opponents by a combined 22 goals in the wins. Senior Collin Smith led Cal with nine goals on the day.

In the Bears’ opening match against No.13 UC Davis, Smith scored four times in the 14-4 win.

Sophomore Colin Mulcahy added three goals in the match, and sophomore Thomas Agramonte and freshman Thomas Carroll each scored twice. Junior goalkeeper Jon Sibley made 15 saves.

Immediately after its match against the Aggies, Cal then took on the No. 18 University of Redlands. And after a first quarter in which the Bears only led by one goal, Cal outscored the Bulldogs 14-3 in the final three quarters to secure the 20-8 win.

Smith scored five times for the Bears. Agramonte and freshman Chandler Jarrels-Stickney each scored three goals.

Both meetings were rematches of games played earlier in the season at the Triton Invitational held at UC San Diego. On Sept. 7, the Bears defeated Redlands 21-3, in Cal’s opening match of the season. Smith led the Bears with four goals in the win.

The following day, Cal defeated UC Davis 15-4. In that match, Jarrels-Stickney led the Bears with four goals.

Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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Tony Zhou/File

If their performance at the Triton Invitational was any indication of how well they will execute this weekend, the Cal men’s water polo team should completely demolish its competition.

At the Aggie Shootout on Saturday, the squad will take on both UC Davis and the University of Redlands for the second time in three weeks in Davis, Calif. The No. 4 Bears will go head to head against host UC Davis at 10 a.m. and will face the University of Redlands in an 11:30 a.m. matchup.

Just a few weeks earlier, from Sept. 7 to 8, the Bears massacred the Bulldogs at the Triton Invitational in their season-opening match at UC San Diego. Led by senior team captain Collin Smith’s four goals, the squad easily defeated its Redlands counterpart, 21-3, in its most lopsided victory this season. The next day, Cal finished off the tournament with a 15-4 domination of the No. 17 Aggies.

By the numbers, this weekend should not prove to be much of a challenge for the top-seeded Cal squad.

However, it will provide the Bears with the perfect platform to adjust to new team rotations without the presence of utility Ayal Keren. The team lost the senior leader to a herniated disc injury just two days prior to the NorCal Invitational last weekend and had no chance to practice without the veteran player leading the second squad rotation.

“We’re looking at using those two games to understand our rotations a little better without Ayal and to fine-tune and get some growth in our younger players,” said Cal coach Kirk Everist. “After UCLA, it became apparent that our younger group didn’t have a rudder — they were young and trying to figure it out on their own — and Ayal gave them that stability.”

According to Everist, the Bears will be looking at sophomore attacker Colin Mulcahy to fill the void Keren’s absence has created. Mulcahy tallied 25 goals in 25 matches played last season and was the leading second on the team, with 29 ejections garnered as a redshirt freshman.

“From a production standpoint dynamic, (Mulcahy) has a lot of energy, and he can definitely fill that role,” Everist said. “He had great production over the weekend and, quite frankly, not enough play time — he really is a No. 6 or 7 player on the team.”

Along with adjusting to Keren’s absence, the Bears will look to improve on defensive positioning issues that prevented them from finishing out their fourth quarters, especially in the UCLA and Stanford matches at the NorCal Invitational.

Cal will continue to make ejection draws one of its main focuses as it moves further along this season, but the team also hopes to gradually improve on gaining advantageous positions on the frontcourt.

“There were kick-outs because we were giving up our position, and we have to see why we were doing that, because it was consistent,” Everist said. “We have to reinforce where we need our defenders to be in order for our help to actually help out.”

The Bears will look to develop their court positioning throughout the season, but for now, the team is just hoping to get through a less challenging weekend after having a chance to train with a reorganized squad.

“(Losing Ayal) was definitely a huge hit for our team, but it gives us something to rally around — it gives us a little more inspiration,” Smith said.

Janice Chua covers men’s water polo. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/Senior Staff

It was early 2009, and Cal men’s water polo coach Kirk Everist was just about to meet his newest group of recruits.

One of the prospects on the trip was a tall skinny kid from La Jolla High School in San Diego. His name: Hunter Gettelfinger.

Everist had yet to see Gettelfinger play in a live game, but two Cal water polo players, and a respected club water polo coach in San Diego, recommended that Everist give him a chance. But when Gettelfinger first walked onto the pool deck, Everist was perplexed.

Witnessing his overall appearance and laid-back vibe, Everist thought that Gettelfinger looked like someone more interested in surfing and sitting around all day than in being a committed student. But his test scores and grades showed that he was.

During one of the nights of the trip, Everist came by the dorms where the recruits were staying to chat with them. When it came time to talk to Gettelfinger, the two took a walk around the campus.

Everist was struck by the high school senior’s ability to engage in a conversation and to convey why the university was right for him. By the time Everist and Gettelfinger returned to the dorms, the head coach was convinced that the kid was right for the school — and for his team.

“You certainly cannot get an impression just by looking at him,” Everist said. “There will be an immediate, ‘I know what that guy is all about.’ And if you made that mistake, you will be way off.”

With long blond hair, an untidy goatee and well-worn jeans, Gettelfinger can blend in with the eclectic student body at Berkeley. The 23-year-old enjoys surfing and playing the guitar, and he lives in one of the cooperatives near campus.

As a member of the water polo team, the 6’3’’ Gettelfinger is a valuable player.

After redshirting his freshman season, Gettelfinger played in all 28 matches for the Bears in 2010. That year, Cal lost in the national championship match in overtime to USC.

The following year, Gettelfinger played in all but two matches for the Bears and was the 10-highest scorer for the team.

Just like his coach predicted, he was thriving at the school. But it wasn’t always that easy.

It was late 2011, and Gettelfinger had just finished his sophomore season. He was coping with an ailing shoulder, feeling like he was sacrificing his own personal happiness to try to balance his practice and class schedules and was longing to explore the world outside of Berkeley. So he decided to take a mental and physical rest.

This was not the first time that Gettelfinger decided to take time away from school. Between eighth and ninth grade, he was home-schooled, taking online courses in English, mathematics and Spanish. His parents encouraged their son to use the less rigorous school schedule to think, be creative and relax.

“When Hunter does something, he does it 100 percent,” said Elaine Alrutz, Gettelfinger’s mother. “You can go 100 percent, but you’ve got to have downtime.”

And downtime is what he got. Home schooling allowed Gettelfinger to spend more time developing his other passions. Surfing and playing the guitar turned into two of his “spiritual and creative” expressions. This was an experience that he was missing while in school. He viewed it as a “time to do something else and allow myself to live more.”

So when he felt the moment was right to step away from Berkeley, he was already aware of the benefits of taking a break from school.

His parents, specifically his father, encouraged Hunter and his two siblings to prolong their college experiences, to look at the “real world” and come back to school refocused. “Academic learning is one type of of learning,” Gettelfinger said. “And being out and having experience is another type. So as much as I have learned in my classes and experiences here, I needed to do something else.”

After mulling it over during winter vacation, he disenrolled for the 2012 spring semester. What he would actually do during the time period was unclear. “But the path laid out before me as it did,” he said.

For six months, Gettelfinger got the time he needed to reset and re-evaluate his life. There was no one solution but a blend of unique events.

That included hiking and taking in the starry night sky in the Sonoran desert in Mexico with his father and his father’s friend for about two weeks. Carrying enough food and water to sustain them, Gettelfinger began to value a simpler lifestyle.

Already with an appreciation for sustainable agriculture, Gettelfinger then traveled to an organic farm outside of Tucson, Ariz., where he worked for two weeks.The opportunity to work the land as a farmer was an experience Gettelfinger “wanted to have for a really long time.” And living in a former goat-milking room in a barn was a step up from his previous living arrangements.

During this time away, his teammates, friends at Berkeley and family members were on his mind. Although he needed a break, he also started to feel a strain on his relationships back at school.

Gettelfinger then made a trip back to Berkeley, where he talked with Everist about his decision to leave. Everist was convinced that this was best for Gettelfinger and that he would come back and be in better physical and mental shape. “I trust his feel for his world,” Everist said. “He obviously needed time to think and do some things.”

 Instead of ending his time away, he left again to spend a month at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, in Carmel Valley. He was working six days a week, washing dishes, composting and pouring concrete. That was supplemented with group meditation sessions in the morning and evening.

It was during this period that he came to terms with the answer to a question he was struggling to deal with: What were his responsibilities, as a Cal water polo player, to the world around him?

“When you step away from it, take a step back and gain this perspective, you see what a privilege it is to be a part of Division I athletics at Cal,” Gettelfinger said. “And that it is OK to be privileged and have those opportunities and not to feel like you are just wasting your energy.”

He then went down to San Diego, where Cal was taking part in an end-of-semester spring tournament. With a renewed sense of energy, he was ready to come back and reconnect with his teammates.

Gettelfinger returned to Berkeley and, after a two-week break for the start of summer, began training again with the team.

The decision to come back was just as difficult as the challenge before him. With six months off from playing water polo and just a few months away from the start of the team’s 2012 fall season, Gettelfinger had to get to work right away.

With a rested shoulder, a balanced mind and a fresh disposition, he did. And instead of viewing his academic and athletic lives as a chore, he gained a newfound appreciation for his athletic and academic life.

“Being able to step away allowed me to make a choice. I can go back if I want to, and I do not have to go back. And I felt that agency in that choice,” Gettelfinger said. “Having those experiences and feeling grounded and balanced internally and mentally just allowed me to come back to the game with a new perspective,” he said.

His restored mindset also translated into strong play. When Gettelfinger returned to the team for the 2012 season, he picked up right where he left off. He played in all 25 of the Bears’ matches and finished fifth on the team in scoring. Gettelfinger also excelled in other areas: He led his team in steals and was fifth in assists. Just months after returning to the sport, he earned honorable mention for All-American honors.

A year later, the fifth-year senior’s desire is even stronger than before because his collegiate water polo career is almost over. “Cal water polo has given me so much in my life,” Gettelfinger said. “I am going to give it all I’ve got for one more semester.”

Although his water polo career is set to end sometime in December, his academic career at Berkeley will extend beyond this semester. Gettelfinger plans to take another break from school before graduating. He sees it as an opportunity to once again take time to learn in a different way and explore his interests. It is a step that he has taken before.

Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/Senior Staff

The Cal men’s water polo team once again experienced a taste of deja vu at the NorCal Invitational this weekend.

For the third year in a row, the UCLA Bruins thwarted the Cal squad from having a chance to play for the NorCal tournament title, defeating the Bears in a semifinal matchup.

And for the third year in a row, Cal (6-2) lost to the Bruins by a single point, 6-5.

“With all the teams so close, it’s going to be how you finish out the games,” Cal coach Kirk Everist said. “Midway through the fourth quarters of the games, we were right there, and we didn’t finish them out.”

As expected, the No. 4 Cal squad opened the annual NorCal Invitational with a perfect 2-0 record to move to 6-0 in the season on Saturday.

The Bears started the two-day tournament with a dominant win over Air Force, 17-8, in an early morning tilt. Cal’s first-quarter rotations held the Air Force team goalless in the first quarter through strong defensive play, and the Falcons just could not overcome their initial six-point deficit for the rest of the match.

At 6:15 p.m. later that evening, Long Beach State displayed a little more resistance against the Bears but eventually fell, 15-10, to Cal’s strong offensive play. Junior Aleksa Saponjic garnered a match-high six goals against the 49ers, helping the Bears come out with a 4-1 lead after scoring two goals back-to-back in the first quarter.

Cal’s Saturday victories placed the squad in the Sunday morning semifinal matchup, pitting the Bears for the third time in a row against UCLA. However, the Cal team could not hold on to its success, eventually falling to the No. 2 Bruins.

The Bears took an early advantage in the first quarter after redshirt freshman Farrel South scored during a Cal power play. At the start of the second period, however, UCLA notched two quick points back to back, the first of which was scored during a 6-on-4 power play.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Bruins held a 4-3 lead, before sophomore two-meter man Max Schell tied the game at 4-4 with an inside goal. But UCLA jumped ahead with two swift goals to lead by a margin large enough to put the match out of reach for the Bears.

Saponjic scored a long shot to put Cal within one goal with 27 seconds left in the game, but by then it was too late for the Bears, as the Bruins took possession of the ball until the end of the fourth quarter.

The Bears later fell to No. 5 Stanford in their last match of the tournament, 12-10, to finish the NorCal Invitational in fourth place.

 Although the Cal team once again fell to UCLA in the semifinal matchup and to the Cardinal in the final game of the tournament, Everist found the Bears’ weekend performance to be decent, especially after the loss of utility Ayal Keren two days earlier to injury.

“On the heels of losing a senior leader and extremely impactful player two days before the tournament had an effect on us, but I thought they adjusted pretty well,” Everist said. “I saw a lot of good things, and we got some of our younger players stepping up, so that’s encouraging … but we’re going to need to improve to get to where we want to be.”

Janice Chua covers men’s water polo. Contact her at jchua@dailycal.org.

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Tony Zhou/File

In collegiate men’s water polo, it does not get much better than this.

Sixteen of the nation’s top teams are converging on the UC Berkeley campus this weekend for the sport’s annual NorCal Invitational. And the No. 4 ranked Bears will see their toughest matches so far in the nascent 2013 season.

“It is an exciting first test to see where we are as a group against teams that will be around in December,” said Cal senior Collin Smith, referring to the conference and national championship tournaments that take place during that month. “There is a certain pride to the fact that it is our pool, and we don’t want another team to beat us in front of our home crowd.”

On Saturday, Cal (4-0) will open up at the Spieker Aquatic Complex against No. 20 Air Force Academy at 10:50 a.m. in the first of four matches on the weekend. The Bears secured the third overall seed by moving up to No. 3 in the Sept. 11 Collegiate Water Polo Association’s national rankings. With a win over Air Force, the Bears would play the winner of Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount University Saturday afternoon.

Barring an upset in either of its first two matches on Saturday, Cal would likely face UCLA Sunday morning in a rematch of the semifinals of last season’s NorCal Invitational. In that match, held at Stanford University, the Bears fell to the Bruins in overtime by one goal. Cal finished fourth overall.

A third overall seed in this year’s tournament also means that the Bears will not have to face the University of Southern California until the finals — if both teams advance that far. The Trojans have won five consecutive NCAA Championships and are a favorite to win a national championship once again. USC returns national player of the year Nikola Vavic and four of its top-five goal scorers from last season’s 29-0 squad.

But potential matches against UCLA and USC will not make or break the tournament for the Bears. How Cal fares against whichever teams it faces will provide an early indicator of its performance.

Like in previous years, all nine teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, which Cal is a part of, are ranked in the top 10 nationally. Overall, 15 of the 16 teams taking part in the tournament are ranked in the top 20.

In matches against even opponents, where a win or loss is often decided by one goal, stamina is crucial.

“One thing we were not satisfied with two weeks ago was our fitness,” said junior Aleksa Saponjic.

With last weekend off, he said the team focused on improving its conditioning, which will help the Bears’ defense. “We have good offensive players, but when we play defense, we can beat everyone,” Saponjic said.

Beating everyone is a possibility. Cal returned all but two of its major goal scorers from last season’s squad and has the experience. And with strong play so far from true freshmen Thomas Carroll and Chandler Jarrels-Stickney, who have combined for 13 goals, three assists and three steals in four matches, the Bears look to have two more players who can fit into head coach Kirk Everist’s rotation.

How much Cal’s youngest players can contribute, the players’ levels of conditioning and how the Bears match up nationally will be clearer after this weekend.

“The way we are looking at it right now is it is really our first big tournament,” Smith said. “And our start of the season.”

Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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