MPOLO11/19/2023 8:21 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal To Defend National Title For Second Straight Year

BERKELEY – The No. 2 California men’s water polo team will get a chance to defend its national title crown for a second straight time at the 2023 NCAA Championship which begins Dec. 1 at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

After holding a top-two national ranking for the entire season, the Golden Bears were announced as the tournament’s No. 2 seed on Sunday evening. Cal is one of eight teams headed to Los Angeles.

The Bears will begin their quest towards a three-peat against Fordham at 4 p.m. PT in the quarterfinal round on Dec. 1. Cal defeated Fordham 18-11 on Oct. 19 in Berkeley in their only other meeting of the year.

The other top seeds were awarded to fellow MPSF schools No. 1 UCLA and No. 3 USC as well as Northeast Water Polo Conference champs No. 6 Princeton.

Each of the last two NCAA Championship games ended with the Bears defeating USC by one goal. Cal is the only men’s water polo program that has won three straight national championships more than once, doing so from 1973-75 and 1990-92.

The NCAA Championship game will air on ESPNU on Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.

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