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Feline Voordouw is one of three Bears on the Cutino Award Watch List as Cal sets up to host MPSF Tournament action.<\/p>\n
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Bears Open Friday Against Arizona State At 2:30 P.M. PT<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBEAR BITES THE FIELD FOLLOW ALONG BY THE NUMBERS ESZTI IN EFFECT JULIA JOINS THE LIST EURO ACTION BACK FOR MORE NEW CREW GOALIE CORPS WORLD STAGE HONORING BRIGITTE STAY POSTED \t\t\t
\nCalifornia will play host to the 2026 MPSF Tournament this week, with action running Friday through Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. As the No. 4 seed in the tourney, the Golden Bears (13-5) will face No. 5 seed Arizona State at 2:30 p.m. PT on Friday to fight for a spot in the 12:45 p.m. semifinals against top-seeded USC on Saturday. Sunday competition will feature placement games, culminating in a 2:30 p.m. championship. For the tournament full schedule and results, visit the MPSF Tournament Central<\/a> page.<\/p>\n
\nThe seven-team MPSF Tournament puts an automatic NCAA bid up for grabs to the conference champion. This year, USC comes in as the No. 1 seed, earning a quarterfinal bye. The rest of the field stacks up with No. 2 seed UCLA facing No. 7 seed San Jose State, followed by No. 3 seed UCLA against No. 6 seed Indiana, and then No. 4 seed Cal taking on No. 5 seed Arizona State on Friday.<\/p>\n
\nAll MPSF Tournament games will stream on overnght.com<\/a> with Greg Mescall and Carter Kirchhevel on the calls. Live stats for all games will be available at scores.6-8sports.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nCal’s leading scorer is Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> with 39 goals, followed closely by Despoina Drakotou<\/a> with 37. Two more Bears have crossed the 30-goal mark in Abbi Magee<\/a> (35) and Feline Voordouw<\/a> (33). On the defensive end, Cal is allowing 10.8 goals per game. Talia Fonseca<\/a> has been the goalie of record in all 18 games so far this season and is averaging 7.3 saves per game. Lexi Nelson<\/a> has capped up in six games and averages 8.7 saves per game in her six periods of work. Cal is outscoring opponents 270-194 this season.
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\nCENTURY CLUB
\nSenior Abbi Magee<\/a> needed three goals to get to the 100th of her career, and she did it one better with a four-goal outburst in Cal’s 22-10 win over San Jos\u00e9 State on March 7. Now with 107 career goals, Magee is primed to continue her climb up the Bears scoring ladder this season. She’s currently second on the team in scoring with 35 goals tallied to date.
\nTwo more Bears are closing the gap on the 100-goal club, with Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> at 89 career goals and Feline Voordouw<\/a> with 84.<\/p>\n
\nSophomore Ezster Varr\u00f3 spent the portion of the 2026 season training and competing with the Hungarian National Team, winning a silver medal at the European Championships in February. She got back to action with the Bears at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, knocking in two goals in her return, and she hasn’t looked back since. In 11 games of work this season, Varr\u00f3 has drummed up 19 goals, including 12 scored in the Bears’ last six games.
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\nCUTINO AWARD WATCH LIST
\nCal stands tall with three Golden Bears highlighting the 2026 Cutino Award Watch List. Freshman Despoina Drakotou<\/a> and juniors Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> and Feline Voordouw<\/a> have been recognized as potential candidates for collegiate water polo’s top honor, the Peter J. Cutino Award. It is the first selection to the Watch List for all three Bears.
\nIn her first season as a Bear, Drakotou is Cal’s second leading scorer with 37 goals and second in assists with 24 while leading the Bears in steals with 26 to date. Drakotou has claimed six MPSF Newcomer of the Week awards, doubling up on Cal’s previous record for single-season weekly awards from the conference. A native of Athens, Greece, she recently earned a bronze medal with Greece at the 2025 U20 World Aquatics Championships.
\nBonaguidi earned her first career MPSF Player of the Week selection earlier this season. Along with her team-high 39 goals, she’s nabbed 21 steals and delivered 17 assists this year so far. A member of the U.S. National Team, Bonaguidi won gold with the U.S. Junior Team at the 2025 U20 World Aquatics Championships last summer. In her three seasons so far at Cal, she’s totalled 89 career goals.
\nVoordouw leads Cal in drawn exclusions and field blocks so far this season with 37 and 14, respectively. She also has punched up 33 goals to go with 11 steals and 10 assists for the Bears. She holds 84 goals in her three seasons of work at Cal to date. A native of Neede, Netherlands, she is a member of the Dutch National Team.
\nCal has had two previous Cutino Award finalists on the women’s side, with Emily Csikos named one of three finalists in 2011 and Isabel Williams becoming the first female Bear to win the Peter J. Cutino Award with her honor won in 2024.<\/p>\n
\nJunior Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> earned her first career MPSF weekly award with her March 3 pick as the MPSF Player of the Week. She’s the first Golden Bear to secure that honor since 2024.
\nBonaguidi tied her career high with four goals \u2014 including three in the fourth period \u2014 to help Cal beat host No. 5 Arizona State 11-10. Bonaguidi’s first goal tied up the game at 3-3 in the second period, and her next two gave Cal one-goal leads in the fourth. She’d score on a 5-meter penalty shot to tie the game at 9-9, and she’d serve up the game-winning assist on Abbi Magee’s<\/a> goal with one second left. Bonaguidi had two assists and a steal in the win.
\nBonaguidi’s first MPSF Player of the Week award makes her the first Bear honoree since 2024, when Cal’s Isabel Williams was a three-time winner and Elena Flynn<\/a> won it once.
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\nDESPI SNAGS SIX
\nAfter opening her Cal career with three MPSF Newcomer of the Week awards in her first three weeks of action, freshman Despoina Drakotou<\/a> continued to add to her Cal-record win count with six MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors earned. The MPSF record of seven Newcomer of the Week awards is shared by three players.
\nPrior to Drakotou, two other Cal players had earned three weekly honors in a season. In 2024, Isabel Williams was a three-time MPSF Player of the Week, and Kitty Lynn Joustra earned three MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors in 2018.
\nDrakotou is Cal’s No. 2 scorer with 37 goals, and she has scored in 15 of the Bear’s 18 games this season with a team-best 12 multiple-goal outings. Earlier this year, Drakotou registered a seven-goal game, marking the second-most goals scored by a Bear in program history and the most since 2019.<\/p>\n
\nTwo current Bears and three Cal alumnae were in action at the European Championships from Jan. 25-Feb. 5 in Portugal. Ezster Varr\u00f3 (Hungary) and Maria Bogachenko<\/a> (Israel) took time away from Cal to compete for their respective nations.
\nBogachenko scored a team-high 20 goals in Portugal. She served up seven goals for Israel to help finish seventh place overall. Varr\u00f3 helped her Hungarians reach the championship game and earn silver, with Varr\u00f3 scoring twice in that final and finishing the event with nine total goals scored.
\nCal alum and Olympian Kitty Lynn Joustra was one of the event’s top scorers, leading Netherlands to gold as she tallied a total of 22 goals. Two more former Bears were representing Great Britain, which finished in 10th place thanks to work from Cal alums Cassidy Ball and Cecily Turner. Turner led her team with 16 goals scored.<\/p>\n
\nCal has returned three of its top five scorers from 2025. Gone are Ruby Swadling<\/a> (55 goals) and Elena Flynn<\/a> (48), but the Bears have Maria Bogachenko<\/a>, Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> and Abbi Magee<\/a> all back after boasting a combined 107 goals last year. In their first seasons as Bears, Ezster Varr\u00f3 and Rosalie Hassett<\/a> tallied 21 and 17 goals, respectively. In goal, Talia Fonseca<\/a> capped up in all 25 games and averaged 7.4 saves per game.<\/p>\n
\nCal welcomes many new faces to the pool for this 2026 season. Six true freshmen are in the mix \u2013 Marina Brown<\/a> (Santa Barbara), Despoina Drakotou<\/a> (Athens, Greece), Reece Helsel<\/a> (Clovis), Lexi Nelson<\/a> (Menlo Park), Harper Price<\/a> (Newport Beach) and Gabby Reichley<\/a> (San Anselmo).<\/p>\n
\nCal has two talented goalies tabbed for duty this season, led by 2025 All-MPSF Honorable Mention recipient Talia Fonseca<\/a>. True freshman Lexi Nelson<\/a> rounds out the Bears’ defensive backbone.<\/p>\n
\nSix Bears stepped up for international duty during the summer at the World Aquatics U20 Championships in Brazil. Team USA \u2013 featuring Julia Bonaguidi<\/a> and Rosalie Hassett<\/a> with head coach Coralie Simmons<\/a> on the coaching staff \u2013 captured gold medals. Incoming freshman Despoina Drakotou<\/a> also took home some hardware in helping Greece claim bronze. Also representing their countries were sophomore Holly Dunn<\/a> with New Zealand and Hungarian sophomore Eszter Varr\u00f3.<\/p>\n
\nThis year, Cal hosted the ninth edition of its early-season tournament known as the Cal Cup. Now named the Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational, the competition honors the memory of Brigitte Donner Daws, who played water polo at Cal from 1998-2002 and passed away tragically in 2020.
\nThe inaugural Brigitte Donner Daws Memorial Invitational was held Jan. 24-25 at Spieker Aquatics Complex and featured both official and exhibition competition between eight teams. Brigitte’s family members participated in a ceremonial ball drop ahead of the Cal-Fresno State game.
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\nLAST SEASON
\nCal is coming off a season in which the Bears reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year. The 2025 squad went 19-6 overall and placed third at the MPSF Tournament. In their final seasons at Cal, three Bears earned All-America honors \u2013 Ruby Swadling<\/a> (first team), Elena Flynn<\/a> (second team) and Rozanne Voorvelt<\/a> (honorable mention). All three also earned All-MPSF accolades along with redshirt sophomore goalie Talia Fonseca<\/a> (honorable mention) and All-Newcomer honorees Maria Bogachenko<\/a> and Rosalie Hassett<\/a>. Swadling was the 2025 team’s top scorer with 55 goals.<\/p>\n
\nFor more coverage of Cal women’s water polo, follow the Bears on X (@calwwpolo<\/a>), Instagram (@calwwpolo<\/a>) and Facebook (@calwwpolo<\/a>).<\/p>\n