For the second consecutive year, the men’s water polo program at University of the Pacific will host a one-of-a-kind spring tournament—The Pacific Cup—featuring some of the best teams and student-athletes in the country.

The event will be held in the Chris Kjeldsen Pool at the Douglass M. Eberhardt Aquatics Center April 12-13.

The eight-team tournament will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. with Cal facing Stanford. Pacific, which won the 2024 West Coast Conference regular season championship, will take the pool at 12:30 p.m. with its opening game against UCLA, the 2024 National Champion.

Pacific’s roster will showcase new faces after most of the 2024 squad either graduated or exhausted eligibility.

“The Pacific Cup is an amazing opportunity to compete against the best in the nation in an incredible atmosphere,” said senior Declan McJilton ’25, a sport management and analytics major. “Everyone is excited to start the new chapter of Pacific water polo with the guys we have, and what better way than opening with the NCAA champs.”

Three-fourths of The Pacific Cup field finished top-10 in the final 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings. The tournament includes No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Stanford, t-No. 6 Pacific, No. 6 Cal, No. 9 Cal Baptist, No. 10 San Jose State, No. 13 Pepperdine and the USA Youth National Team.

“Although It is my first time competing in the Pacific Cup, I’ve heard so many great things about it, and I’m really excited to play there with our new team in front of our home crowd,” said freshman Ori Buzaglo ’28, an electrical engineering major.

A blind draw was held to determine the bracket for the tournament. Stanford won the inaugural tournament last year.

“The Pacific Cup will be an amazing experience. It will feature a beer garden, DJs, contests and giveaways. The environment will be awesome, and the competition will be world class. The tournament will feature eight of the most elite teams in the country,” said Head Coach James Graham. “There’s some really exciting first round matchups and we look forward to having everybody out. I want to thank the coaches and teams for being a part of the tournament and we look forward to hosting everyone.”

The Pacific Cup will be a two-day competition with the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13. For more information, including tickets and the schedule, visit the tournament central page on the Pacific Athletics website.