MALIBU, CALIF. – After dropping a morning semifinal to No. 1-ranked UCLA at the Kap7 SoCal Invitational, the No. 4 Cal men's water polo team had a chance to shake that result off and bring a significant victory home with a third-place showdown against rival Stanford at Pepperdine.

The Bears made the most of their opportunity, jumping out to an early lead and never giving it back to pick up a 14-11 win over the No. 3-ranked Cardinal and finish third at the end of a highly competitive weekend in Malibu and Los Angeles. Cal, which was seeded No. 4 at the tournament, went 3-1 in four matches, earning wins over Loyola Marymount, No. 5 Pacific (double OT) and Stanford, which was seeded second at the tournament.

Cal (15-3) now returns to Berkeley to prepare for its first home match of the season. The Bears will host UC Irvine on Sunday at noon at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) action.

Cal 14, Stanford 11

Five goals in the first period put the Bears in good shape right away and that momentum carried through the rest of the match as Cal stayed in front the entire way for a wire to wire victory over the Cardinal in the first meeting between the two teams this season.

Cal put its collective strength on display early, with five different Bears scoring a goal apiece in the first eight minutes. Colin Mulcahy got the scoring started and Conor Neumann, Odysseas Masmanidis, Johnny Hooper and Thomas Carroll each found the net to gain an early advantage.

The Bears maintained an 11-6 lead at halftime and still led by four after three periods with a 12-8 margin. The teams traded two goals apiece in the fourth period and Cal left Malibu with its second win over a top-5 opponent for the weekend.

Masmanidis and Neumann led Cal on the scoresheet with three goals apiece. Hooper scored two goals and Mulcahy, Chandler Jarrels, Farrel South, Carroll, Luca Cupido and Timothy Simenc added a goal apiece. Lazar Andric made seven saves and went the distance in goal.

UCLA 13, Cal 8

Strong defense through one period kept the match close but the top-ranked Bruins took control with a five-goal second period and the Bears couldn't come back in their morning semifinal in Malibu.

Both defenses looked stout early, and Andric helped the Bears' cause with several good saves to keep the score low through the first eight minutes. But, with UCLA leading 2-1 going to the second period, the Bruins found their rhythm offensively as five different players scored a goal each over the next eight minutes to take a 7-3 lead into halftime.

Cal scored first in the third period but UCLA's offense kept coming and the Bruins maintained a 12-5 lead heading to the final period. The Bears didn't go away in the fourth, with goals by Mulcahy, J.D. Ratchford and Hooper closing the gap just a bit. Hooper led the Bears with two goals while six other Bears scored one goal apiece. Andric finished the match with 17 saves.