Water polo fans—that’s right, all two of you—the Big Splash has finally arrived. The showdown between the No. 2 Cal men’s water polo team and third-ranked Stanford starts Saturday at 2 p.m., at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center.

To say that there’s some history here is a bit of a understatement: the two programs have combined for 23 of the 40 NCAA national championships, with Cal winning its 13th two years ago. Stanford finished as runner-up last season, but hasn’t earned a ring since current national team captain Tony Azevedo led it to back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.

The winner of this match—the regular season closer for both teams—will clinch the No. 2 seed for the upcoming MPSF Championships, as well as strengthening an at large bid for the NCAAs. Both are tied for second in the MPSF with identical 6-1 conference records (both fell to top-ranked USC). Both have also defeated the other in non-conference games this season: the Card edged the Bears, 8-7, at home in September’s NorCal Invite; Cal returned the favor by claiming a 10-8 victory in last month’s SoCal Invite.

But Stanford still has something that Cal doesn’t: All-American goalkeeper Jimmie Sandman, likely the best in the nation (at keeping the goal, not just having an awesome name).

To celebrate the occasion, I’ve taken the liberty of altering the words to the Metallica classic:

In the pool, full of glee
Don’t forget, my team
To make your fans beam

You’ll score some goals, easily
Thinking you’re home free
‘Til the Sandman, you see

(Click here to read more…)

After the Cal men’s soccer team went winless in a six-game stretch during the Pac-1o season, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that the Bears would miss the postseason.

And now its official.

In the telecast announcement last Monday afternoon on ESPNews, Cal (9-8-1, 3-6-1 in the Pac-10) was excluded from the NCAA bracket. The Bears had held out some hope of making the tournament after upsetting then-No. 17 Stanford, 1-0, to end the disappointing season on a high note.

Just a matter of months ago, it would have seemed preposterous to say that Cal would miss the postseason. The Bears had a preseason All-American forward in Andrew Wiedeman, a No. 4 national ranking and were the preseason pick to win the Pac-10.

So what happened?

First of all, one cannot discount the effect of injuries. The once-stalwart defensive line for the Bears suffered numerous losses to injuries, including sophomore Teddy Jones, seniors Imaan Kerchgeni and Jacob Wilson, junior Servando Carrasco and even starting goalkeeper David Bingham at times during the season. Only junior A.J. Soares played every game in the backfield for Cal.

Furthermore, the offense came in fits and spurts. Despite the near-constant production of Wiedeman (26 points) and the surprise offensive production of senior Jeff Cosgriff (16 points), the Bears seemed unable to find a rhythm during the season — blowing out teams like USF, 3-0, but unable to score on league competition like UCLA and San Diego State.

Coach Kevin Grimes has his own opinion on the season.

“When you look at it, there are 10 weeks of soccer. Ten weekends of soccer, and seven of them were pretty darn good. We had three off weekends that really were the difference. I think our injuries were just at our worst during that nine-day stretch we played UCLA and San Diego State: four games in nine days, we go 0-4. I think if our injuries aren’t there, we are probably not having this conversation right now.

“It was what it was.”

That it was, Coach.

However you look at it, this season was a disappointment for the Bears, who, at this point last year, thought they could contend for a national championship. But the future is bright for a team returning 13 players who saw considerable time this year.

Thirteen players who you can bet never want to miss an NCAA tournament again.

“Points and Shoot” had the day off last week because of Veterans Day, but don’t you worry — the sports photo of the week is back better than ever!

This week’s image, taken by Daily Cal staff photographer Nathan Yan, features punter Bryan Anger following through on a kick in the Cal football team’s game against Arizona on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Field position was an important facet of the game, and it wasn’t a strong point for coach Jeff Tedford’s team in the first half (notice that Anger is punting out of the Bears’ own end zone).

In any case, Cal emerged with a 24-16 victory featuring an impressive fourth-quarter performance by its defense.

Shane Vereen was excellent in his role as starting tailback, and kicker Giorgio Tavecchio might have saved the game for the Bears with an important tackle.

Cal (7-3, 4-3 in the Pac-10) takes on Stanford in the Big Game on the Farm this weekend. Check out Extra Points, the football-only blog, and the Daily Cal website for more coverage.

Also, look at a slideshow of photos from the week in Bears athletics at This Week in Cal Sports.

And make sure to check back next week for another awesome sports photo!

The field for the Nov. 23 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., were announced on Sunday. It consisted of 31 teams and 38 individual qualifiers for both the men and women.

However, Cal fell short of qualifying after each team finished eighth on a chilly and muddy Springfield Golf Course.

Portland, Washington, Oregon, Arizona State and Stanford earned trips to nationals from the West Region on the men’s side. The latter four squads, along with Arizona, made it on the women’s side.

The Cal women could have helped their chances on Saturday by topping the Wildcats, which they had already done at the Pac-10 Championships, but the Bears finished three spots behind Arizona while racing without redshirt freshman Ellie Keene. Keene was the team’s second place finisher at Pac-10s, but suffered a foot injury at the conference meet.

“Arizona was on their game today and … we weren’t,” senior Alison Greggor said. “If we had finished fifth or sixth, (a berth) was very likely. It didn’t go exactly as planned.”

“It was a tough meet for us,” coach Tony Sandoval said after the meet. “We had a couple of tough breaks.”

Indeed, Cal’s top two runners — sophomore Deborah Maier and Steve Sodaro — both missed out on individual berths to the NCAA championships by just one spot, despite having career-best regional finishes and earning all-region team honors.

Sodaro placed 16th, one behind Cal Poly’s Joe Gatel, while Maier (14th) finished behind UCLA’s Shannon Murakami.

First, a little story:

The first major sport I covered for the Daily Cal was volleyball. I went on calbears.com to do some research before my first interview with coach Rich Feller. Up in the top right corner of the volleyball page, there’s this picture of him, yelling, pointing and looking rather intense. It scared the shit out of me.

I went into the interview thinking I was about to get a chair thrown at me. Turns out, the guy was pretty damn nice. Now, a year later and covering Cal volleyball for the second season in a row, I can definitively say that people don’t come as nice and personable as Rich Feller. It’s been my pleasure to work with him. The man is a true class act.

So now I’m returning the favor. (Click here to read more…)

Unfortunately, not everything from the 70-minute interview could be stuffed into Tuesday’s feature on Cal water polo player Brian Dudley. (Nice guy. He still showed up early after I changed the location about a half-hour or so beforehand; I walked into Caffe Med to find him already sitting at a table.) Fortunately, I have all the space I want here to stick some extra tidbits.

The Haas student hits everything from punctured eardrums to South African food to his fear of sharks:

You missed the first five games this season with a broken hand. What’s the worst injury you’ve suffered in water polo?

I guess, bursting my eardrum. Back home, I got in a little bit of confrontation with this one guy. I got hit and it burst my eardrum, it concussed me. I don’t remember much of what happened. I was completely dazed. I got kicked out and I just picked up the ball and threw it into the crowd. I had no idea what was going on. And obviously, I had a five-meter called on me because I was interfering with play. That was pretty painful.

How did that happen?

We were playing and the ball came in set. His object was never to go for the ball. My whole team was ganging up on this one kid. I was behind him, and he came around and just headbutted me. It cracked my headgear and burst my eardrum, and yeah, I got a bit dazed after that … Bleeding out your ear, you’re always like “Oh my God, what the hell is going on.” (Click here to read more…)

The Bears opened the half with an eight-point lead, managing to quickly watch it erode to four, only to build it back up to 12 at the 17:07 mark. Then back to eight at 15:44.

Sanders-Frison picked up his third and fourth fouls within a minute of each other and was subbed out for Jorge Gutierrez. Cal leads, 50-42. Two points for Detroit on the first possession after the sub.

A nice move inside by Patrick Christopher for a fadeaway floater, then a three-pointer. Followed by a defensive rebound and an assist to Theo Robertson for a three — Cal 58-44. And another three for Robertson leads to a timeout with 12:22 remaining.

But how will Cal respond after playing so streaky all game? (Click here to read more…)

SCORE: Cal 40, Detroit 32.

Kind of a nondescript and ugly first half. Both teams have more turnovers than they do assists – six turnovers for the Bears, eight for the Titans.

Markhuri Sanders-Frison got a few touches early on and already has four points. Getting it low really gives Cal a different look offensively. The junior has six points, four rebounds and an assist at the half.

Jerome Randle has 16 points on 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-for-3 behind the arc. The point guard has two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers. Randle has been getting trailed up and down the court with or without the ball. He seems to be settling into the pressure as the game wears on.

Patrick Christopher is 2-of-8 from the floor and 0-for-3 from deep. He has an assist, a steal and a turnover.

Max Zhang got his obligatory minutes to an over-the-top ovation from the crowd. Zhang has one point, which was also cheered for heavily. When he missed the second free throw, the crowd “oh”-ed like Cal lost at the buzzer.

Cal is shooting 25 percent from three at the half.

More updates to follow.

The Cal men’s tennis team ended its fall season with an overall dominating performance at the St. Mary’s Invitational last weekend. Freshman Christoffer Konigsfeldt won the singles draw, two other Bears players made the singles semifinals, and it was an all-Cal doubles final (before rain delays canceled it). Yet, the Bears don’t have another tournament or match until Jan. 16 against Southern Methodist.

“It’s difficult to go two to two-and-a-half months without a real competitive match,” junior Zach Gilbert said.

Coach Peter Wright said that the offseason is an opportunity for players to rest and get healthy for spring season. They will also, of course, hit the books so they can win the Newmark Award — presented to the sports team with the highest GPA — for the second consecutive semester.

But the Bears are going to play plenty of tennis, too.

Some of the players plan on participating in local, non-ITA affiliated tournaments. In addition, even though Cal does not have any official practices with Wright until January, the team will, as always, practice on its own. Only this year won’t be as lackadaisical as previous years.

“Last couple of years (our practice) was not quite serious enough … we played lots of mini tennis,” Gilbert said. “Don’t slack off before spring. This year, it’s our goal to make it more like real practice.”

With the determined, no-nonsense Pedro Zerbini running practice, Cal should be ready for the dual season.

“Were going to keep working hard, practice two to two-and-a-half hours a day, three or four times a week,” Zerbini said. “We’ll play a lot of matches, a lot of hitting. We’ll stay in shape, keep healthy. Hopefully, when (the dual season starts), we’ll be playing our best tennis.”

FINAL: Cal 75, Murray State 70.

Cal isn’t closing out strong on the perimeter, and the Racers are making them pay for it with three-balls. Fortunately for the Bears, Murray State is having trouble stopping them on offense.

Cal’s ball movement is noticeably more fluid with Smith on the floor, looking for his teammates before his own shot.

However, the Racers have reduced the gap due to Bears’ mistakes on defense: missed box-outs, weak transition defense and poor closeouts. The lead doesn’t seem to be in any real danger though with the 7:13 left to play, as the Bears are up 64-50.

Nevermind … (Click here to read more…)