FRESNO, Calif. - The No. 9 Fresno State water polo team treks north to Berkeley for the Cal Cup this weekend, taking on three Top 10 teams and facing the USA Academy in an exhibition.
There will be no live stats or live stream for the exhibition against USA Academy.
No. 9 Fresno State (2-1, 0-0 GCC) vs No. 8 Long Beach State (2-0, 0-0 Big West)
Saturday, January 23 • 10:30 a.m. PT • Spieker Aquatics Complex • Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: OverNght ($)
Live Stats: 6-8 Scores
Twitter: @FresnoStateWP
Series History: Fresno State leads, 5-1
No. 9 Fresno State (2-1, 0-0 GCC) vs No. 4 Cal (3-0, 0-0 MPSF)
Saturday, January 23 • 2 p.m. PT • Spieker Aquatics Complex • Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: OverNght ($)
Live Stats: 6-8 Scores
Twitter: @FresnoStateWP
Series History: Cal leads, 10-0
No. 9 Fresno State vs USA Academy (EXHIBITION)
Sunday, January 24 • 12:30 p.m. PT • Spieker Aquatics Complex • Berkeley, Calif.
No. 9 Fresno State (2-1, 0-0 GCC) vs No. 1 UCLA (0-0, 0-0 MPSF)
Sunday, January 19 • 4 p.m. PT • Spieker Aquatics Complex • Berkeley, Calif.
Watch: OverNght ($)
Live Stats: 6-8 Scores
Twitter: @FresnoStateWP
Series History: UCLA leads, 7-0
BULLDOG BONES
Fresno State opened the 2025 season with wins over No. 14 Michigan and No. 12 UC San Diego in the Polopalooza, hosted in Fresno.
Fresno State's only loss so far was to No. 4 Cal. The teams will rematch this weekend in Cal's home pool.
On Sunday, Fresno State will face the No. 1 ranked team in UCLA. Fresno State and UCLA were originally scheduled to face each other in the Polopalooza, but the Bruins had to withdraw from the tournament due to the Southern California fires.
Fresno State has won its last two meetings against the nation's No. 1 team, first defeating then-No. 1 Stanford on Jan. 21, 2024 and then-No. 1 USC on Feb. 3, 2024.
Fresno State remains at No. 9 in this week's CWPA national team rankings.
The Bulldogs are the highest ranked Golden Coast Conference school with LMU at No. 10.
For the second year in a row, Fresno State returns all of its All-Americans from the previous season. Hailey Andress, Brooke Ochoa and Abbey Simshauser all return as All-Americans from 2024 and the team's three leading scorers from last season.
Simshauser was named the GCC Player of the Week for week one, earning the opening honor for the second year in-a-row. She led the 'Dogs with 14 points in three games behind 10 goals and four assists. She also had nine drawn exclusions, four steals and three field blocks in the season-opening Polopalooza tournament.
The Bulldogs are coached by head coach Natalie Benson, who enters her 8th season at the helm.
With a win in the GCC Championship game to win the fourth straight conference tournament title, Benson also secured her 100th win as Fresno State head coach. In her eighth season, she has a 102-72 overall record.
Benson has been named the GCC Coach of the Year for four years in a row.
Fresno State added seven newcomers to the 2025 roster, including six true freshmen and one transfer.
The Bulldogs lost five seniors to graduation in goalkeepers Paula Nieto Jasny and Kelly Villanueva, along with Kaitlin Howarth, Cynthia Rosa and Robyn Greenslade.
Fresno State has four new coaches on staff in assistant coaches Reilly Gallagher and Cecilia Leonard, and graduate assistants Robyn Greenslade and Paula Nieto Jasny.
Preseason favorites, again
The Fresno State water polo team was picked as the preseason favorite in the 2025 Golden Coast Conference preseason coaches' poll, announced by the conference office ahead of the season opener and voted upon by the league's eight head coaches.
The Bulldogs have won the last four GCC tournament titles, and three of the last four regular season titles.
Getting the rematch early
Fresno State fell 13-10 to No. 4 Cal in the Polopalooza last weekend. It was the 10th loss in the series for the Bulldogs, but Fresno State saw a late-effort towards a comeback that threatened the Bears to the final buzzer. Saturday will be the third time in 10 months that the teams will face each other as Cal knocked the Bulldogs out of the NCAA tournament on May 10, 14-7.
The Bulldogs look for their first-ever win over Cal this weekend.
Time flies when you're having fun
Just two years ago, Hailey Andress walked on to campus as a true freshman. She quickly rose to a two-time All-American in her two years with the program. The native of Glendora, Calif. Currently sits fifth in program history with 137 career goals. Last season, she became the fastest player in program history to reach 100 career goals. In 2024, she set the program record with 74 goals. She also owns the single season program record with 14 hat tricks in 2024.
The ceiling for Andress continues to rise as the 2025 season gets started. The junior Bulldog opened the season with a team-high 11 goals. She added three assists, two field blocks and a steal.
Ole Reliable
Alongside Andress is senior Brooke Ochoa, who has also made a name for herself in the Bulldog program. Ochoa returns as a two-time All-American in the pool, playing in every game of her Bulldog career. Last season, she took on a newer-to-her role as the offense was more diverse with playmakers on the perimeter. Ochoa finished the 2024 season with 50 goals and 43 assists. She set the program record for most assists in a season, one season after recording the second-most goals in a season with 60 in 2023.
A senior this year, Ochoa will be looked to to help grow the younger players in the pool this season. The senior wrapped up the Polopalooza with eight goals, four assists, three drawn exclusions, three field blocks and two steals.
She has played in 86 career games, tying for the fifth-most by a player in program history. With eight goals last weekend, she has scored 151 in her career to sit third all-time in program history.
Year two, here we go
Abbey Simshauser transferred to Fresno State from Wagner College ahead of the 2024 season, and made immediate impact earning All-American and All-GCC honors in her first season. Simshauser was the second-leading scorer in 2024 with 72 goals, which tied the second-most goals in a season by a Bulldog in program history. With one more goal, Simshauser will break into the top 6 in career goals by a Bulldog, having only done so in her second season.
After opening weekend, Simshauser has 10 goals and four assists, along with nine drawn exclusions, four steals and three field blocks.
With 82 goals in her Bulldog career, she is just one away from cracking into the program's top marks. When she does, Fresno State will have three active players in the program's top numbers for career goals scored.
Homegrown
Fresno State has one player on the roster from the Central Valley in Sidney Strickland. The Clovis West graduate enters her second season as a Bulldog, and is ready to take on a bigger role as a defender for the 'Dogs this year.
As a true freshman, she appeared in nine games with five goals, four assists, six steals and a field block. Playing mostly as a reserve player, she was one of four true freshmen to see minutes for the Bulldogs in 2024.
In opening weekend of 2025, Strickland recorded two goals and three assists. She also added two drawn exclusions and four field blocks.
Big work from the freshman
One true freshman was in the rotation last weekend – Marit van der Kolk.
The freshman from the Netherlands scored two goals and added four assists. She also tallied one drawn exclusion. She went 4-1 in her sprint efforts, which was a big advantage for the Bulldogs who graduated Cynthia Rosa who left as the program's all-time leader in career sprint wins and sprint win percentage.
Brief 2024 recap
The Central Valley program looks to extend on the success that it saw in 2024, its best season in program history. The 2024 season was a big year of firsts for the program as the Bulldogs opened the season by winning six in-a-row, including a win over then-No. 1 Stanford. It was the first time in program history that the 'Dogs took down a top-ranked opponent and the first time they defeated Stanford. Two weeks later, the Bulldogs would again defeat the nation's No. 1 team, this time in USC. The win on Feb. 3 was the first time the Bulldogs defeated USC in program history. Before defeating USC at the Triton Invite, the 'Dogs defeated UC Irvine – the first win in the series for the Bulldogs.
With a record of 8-3, and having defeated seven ranked teams in that span, the Bulldogs earned themselves the highest national team ranking in program history, checking in at No. 3. Fresno State earned the highest ranking by any program in Golden Coast Conference history at No. 3.