Cal Men's Water Polo: REPEAT COMPLETE

BERKELEY – Jack Deely couldn't believe what he had heard.

The sold-out crowd at Spieker Aquatics Complex couldn't believe what they had seen.

Notice a trend?

In an improbable scenario that may have some still attempting to digest what happened in Berkeley on Sunday afternoon, the top-seeded Cal men's water polo team stormed back from a four-goal deficit with under six minutes to play to stun USC 13-12 and capture the NCAA championship for the second season in a row.

Three-time MPSF Player of the Year and reigning National Player of the Year Nikolaos Papanikolaou had a championship game for the ages, tying his career-high with seven goals – the last of which tied the game at 12-12 with 1:30 to play. After All-American goalie Adrian Weinberg came up with a save on USC's next possession, sophomore Roberto Valera leaked out on the counterattack and notched the game-winning goal from point-blank range with 41 seconds remaining.

The Trojans couldn't get a clean shot off on their final possession, and the Bears were able to run out the clock, setting off a wild celebration in their home pool.

The Bears captured their 16th national title overall – the most ever in collegiate men's water polo.

 "That was insane," said head coach Kirk Everist, who won his fifth NCAA championship in 21 years at Cal. "I'm having trouble remembering exactly what happened. I would be hard-pressed to remember a game that was that exciting, a game where a team had to really pull something completely out of nowhere to win a championship. We've had comebacks before, but nothing at the level of that because of what's at stake. It's a testament to the team to be able to do that in that moment."

Everist, Papanikolaou and senior Jack Deely addressed the media in the interview room after the game, and when Everist made reference to Papanikolaou's seven goals, Deely interrupted.

"You scored seven goals?" Deely asked Papanikolaou before bursting out laughing. "I thought he had four or five."

Things looked grim for Cal after USC extended its lead to 12-8 early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans outplayed the Bears for most of the second and third quarters, and when Cal came up empty on each of its next two possessions after USC extended its lead to four goals, the confidence coming from the USC bench was palpable.

The Bears finally broke through on a goal by Valera with 5:41 left, and after a USC turnover, Papanikolaou took a feed from Deely and tipped the ball into the cage to make it 12-10 at the 5:02 mark of the fourth quarter. The partisan crowd took its support to a new level at that point, and the Bears fed off of it.

"It didn't seem like it was our day," Everist said. "USC was playing really well, and we just didn't have many solutions for what they were doing. We scored a couple of goals really quick, which gave us hope and got the crowd back into it. In that last 5-and-a-half minutes, you could finally hear the crowd. You could feel the crowd, and you could see the guys get a little more energy. I think that propelled us forward."

Weinberg came up with a couple more saves and Deely and Papnikolaou connected again on a power play to cut the deficit to 12-11 with 3:22 remaining. Papanikolaou then made the play of the game, outhustling a pair of USC players to slap back in a rebound off a shot by freshman Albert Ponferrada to tie the game at 12-12.

"He's a special kid and a special player," Everist said of Papanikolaou. "I haven't seen a performance that was that spectacular, in that kind of moment. If I had to pick a team, I'd definitely pick him first."

Papanikolaou added seven earned exclusions while Valera finished with four goals and Deely had four assists. Weinberg ended with 12 saves. Papanikolaou also moved into fifth place on Cal's all-time scoring list with 210 in his career, passing Everist.

Papanikolaou was named the most valuable player of the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year while Deely, Weinberg and Max Casabella were also selected to the First Team. Valera made the Second Team.

The Bears finished the season with a record of 23-2 and have a strong nucleus returning in 2023, including Papanikiolaou, Weinberg, Casabella and Valera. Cal has eight of its top nine scorers from this season coming back next year.