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Women's Water Polo
No. 4 Bears Open Season With Pair Of Victories: Cal Knocks Off Cal St. Monterey Bay, No. 10 Pacific
SAN JOSE - The all-new Cal women's water polo team got its first chance to find out what it is all about Saturday, and the No. 4 Golden Bears were pleased with what they saw in winning two games at the season-opening LouStrong Memorial at San Jose State.
The Bears commenced the 2016 season by rolling past Cal State Monterey Bay 22-5 before returning a few hours later to get past No. 10 Pacific 12-8.
Cal is playing this season without All-Americans Dora Antal, Roser Tarrago and Anna Illes, each of whom is redshirting the season to train with her respective national team in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. That means the Bears will be looking to some new faces to pick up much of their production, and Saturday provided an encouraging glimpse at what could be in store this season.
"I think as a whole it was a really good day," Cal coach Richard Corso said. "They are optimistic not only for the moment, but for the rest of the season. It was a good first eight periods, but it's a long season."
Rugby
Cal Wins Saturday Slate at Storer: 3 Wins At UCLA Start Spring
LOS ANGELES - California kicked off its spring season with three wins Saturday in the Dennis Storer Classic on North Athletic Field at UCLA, scoring 25 tries and yielding none as 46 Golden Bears notched playing time.
"It was important for the squad to get some live action," said head coach Jack Clark. "We are trying to figure out what we have to work with and getting competition minutes for so many players is helpful to that end."
Cal began its campaign with a nine-try shutout of UC San Diego as No. 8 Drew Gaffney and fullback Jake Goena both scored two tries while Jamie Howells went 8-for-9 on conversions in the 61-0 win.
Next up was a 66-0 victory over UC Santa Cruz, with two more tries for Goena, another pair by Hugo d'Auriol and 8-of-9 conversion kicking by Matthew Coyle.
Against UC Davis to end the afternoon, five different Bears found the try zone in addition to a team try on a penalty, with 3-of-6 conversion kicking by Harry Adolphus in a 36-0 win.
"We were good at times and not so great at other times," coach Clark said. "It looked like early days of the season, because it is." Nine starting opportunities went to freshman and seven starts were made by sophomores across the three matches.
Men's Gymnastics
Cal Places Second At Cal Benefit Cup: The Bears Improved On Their First Performance Of 2016
BERKELEY, Calif. - The California Golden Bears men's gymnastics team began their home season on Saturday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley with a second place finish at the second annual Cal Benefit Cup with a total team score of 426.950. No. 3 Stanford captured the team title with a score of 438.050, and Southern California United was third with 365.900. Senior co-captain Kevin Wolting led the way for California in the all-around competition, posting a score of 87.150, while freshman Aaron Mah had a breakout performance, scoring no lower than 14.650 on any of his three events.
"It was awesome, the energy was great," head coach Brett McClure said on Saturday night. "This was an incredible crowd for our first home meet and it was an exhilarating competition and a lot of fun to be a part of it. It's extremely important to come out of the gates strong. On Monday, just a few days ago, we had a rough start. That was a point of emphasis today; and we wanted to turn it around and prove to ourselves that we can have a really strong start. We were really happy to gain some momentum from that start today."
National Football League
The 2016 NFL Draft is still three months away, but California Golden Bears junior Jared Goff is widely considered the top quarterback prospect by Draft pundits.
Goff had a sensational season this year, throwing for 4,719 yards and 43 touchdowns while leading Cal to an 8-5 record. He completed 64.5 percent (341-of-529) of his passes this year and threw 13 interceptions, though five came in a 30-24 loss to Utah on October 10. Goff had his best performances during the last four weeks of the season, throwing for over 375 yards in all four games to go along with 19 touchdown passes and just one interception.
Goff finished third in the NCAA in passing yards, 23rd in completion percentage, 12th in yards per pass (8.9), third in touchdowns, 10th in passer rating and seventh in total QBR.
Goff has good size, standing at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, with exceptional arm strength to go along with a very quick release. He is very accurate and has nice touch to his long ball as well possesses some ability to avoid pressure. In addition, he sees the field well and has improved his decision making.
Nothing was going to stop C.J. Anderson from charging into the end zone. Broncos take the lead! #PITvsDEN https://t.co/EaXrAvXHWQ
— NFL (@NFL) January 18, 2016
Swimming & Diving
Foreigners Charge, but Adrian Leads Arena PSS Points After Austin
Katinka Hosszu and Sarah Sjostrom made big pushes, but Katie Ledecky and Nathan Adrian still lead the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series points after the Austin stop.
Hosszu, Sjostrom and Ledecky each put up 18 points to lead all swimmers in Austin, but Ledecky's 16 points carrying over from the Minneapolis stop keep her atop the series standings at 34 points.
Despite not swimming in Minneapolis, Hosszu and Sjostrom are tied for second with 18 points overall, along with Missy Franklin, who earned 5 points on a silver and two bronzes in Austin.
On the men's side, Nathan Adrian has taken the lead with a very steady effort, after winning the 50 free and 100 free at both the Minneapolis and Austin stops. His 20 points pass up early series leader Conor Dwyer, who did not compete in Austin.