Two home tournaments highlight men’s water polo’s 2022 schedule

Men's Water Polo — 2022 Schedule (HTML)

VALLEJO, Calif. – As was the case last season, Cal Maritime men's water polo will host two tournaments throughout its 2022 campaign, as announced by head coach Steve Doten on Tuesday.

PEAC Pool will serve as the site for the Keelhaulers' inaugural set of matches when UC Davis, Cal, San José State and UC Merced visit Vallejo for the second-annual Keelhauler Classic, scheduled for October 1-2.

Cal Maritime's season opener will take place that Saturday with an 11:20 a.m. matchup vs. the Aggies before concluding the day with a 4 p.m. tilt against the Golden Bears. In last year's tournament, Cal narrowly edged CSUM, 12-11, in a thrilling OT contest that pitted the same teams that battled for the Sierra Pacific Conference's postseason title and automatic berth at the national playoffs.

Of the four games on Sunday's slate, water polo fans can cheer for Cal Maritime when it hosts San José State and UC Merced at 10:10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively.

Following a week-long hiatus, the Keelhaulers will head to the coast as one of 10 teams participating in the UC Santa Cruz Tournament. On Saturday, October 15, CSUM will square off against Cal State Monterey Bay at 1:30 p.m. before ending Saturday's action five hours later against Chico State.

When they return to the pool on the 16th, the Keelhaulers will face the tournament hosts at 11 a.m. before ending the weekend with a 4 p.m. showdown against Pacific.

That tilt against the Tigers will serve as Cal Maritime's final tune-up before the start of postseason play since the Sierra Pacific Tournament will take place on campus October 22 and 23. Ten matches are slated throughout Saturday's schedule at PEAC Pool featuring teams seeded by their regular season records.

Action on Sunday will start with the Ninth Place game, set for 9 a.m., followed by the event's Seventh- (10:10 a.m.) and Fifth Place contests (11:20 a.m.). The Third Place match will take place at 12:30 p.m. following by the championship match, slated for 1:40 p.m. In addition to the league's 2022 title, the winner will earn an automatic bid and compete for a national championship; schedule for November 11-13, the site of this tournament is TBD at the time of this release.

Highlighted by a four-match win streak, Cal Maritime ended 2021 — its first season in the pool since COVID forced the cancellation of the 2020 campaign — with an 8-3 overall record and finished second in last year's conference championship.