BERKELEY - Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2015, the No. 3-ranked Cal men's water polo team weathered a physical challenge from No. 7 UC Irvine and came up with the big plays it needed down the stretch to pull out a 12-10 victory at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Luca Cupido led Cal (16-3, 2-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) with three goals. Colin Mulcahy, Johnny Hooper, Odysseas Masmanidis and Conor Neumann each scored two and Vassilis Tzavaras added one while goalkeeper Lazar Andric stopped 12 shots. Kyle Trush led UC Irvine (11-6, 1-2) with three goals.

With Cal leading 9-8 heading into the final period, either team had a chance to make its move in the waning minutes of Sunday's match. Irvine got the first oppportunity by drawing an exclusion with just over seven minutes left, but the Bears killed the power play opportunity with excellent defense, maintaining the one-goal advantage.

Cupido widened the gap to two with 4:39 left when his long distance shot from straight on snuck just past Anteaters goalkeeper Dylan Peterson and into the left corner of the net to make it 10-8. Trush responded with a goal of his own just 12 secons later but Masmanidis, faced with heavy pressure in front of the Irvine net, took a pass from Mulcahy and converted to give Cal the 11-9 lead with 4:14 remaining.

Both teams traded big saves for the next few minutes but it was again good defense that set Cal up for an all-important insurance goal. A steal by Thomas Carroll resulted in a breakaway for Neumann and the lefty made it count, beating Peterson with 1:33 left to make it 12-10. That's where the score stayed until the final buzzer and Cal walked away with the victory in its home opener.

"I thought those were nice situational things that got the team calmed down," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "We got some experienced leadership to get a good possession, get a goal and let's try to play some defense. That's a good sign for the team because, in retrospect, you have some moments that you'll learn from later, especially with a young group."

Cal controlled much of the early going, taking a 7-4 lead into halftime after Tzavaras turned a field block into a breakaway and goal with 1:15 left before the break. The third period proved a more emotional eight minutes as each team saw players excluded for the remainder of the contest.

"Fortunately we figured out a way to win this game because it was very important to protect our home (pool)," Cupido said. "It will probably be a lesson for our next games when we have to go down to Long Beach and UCLA. Stay calm, focus on your own game plan and just finish it."

Cal heads south next weekend for its last plane trip of the regular season when it takes on UCLA and Long Beach State in MPSF play. Saturday's match against the No. 1-ranked Bruins will start at 10:30 a.m. and will be televised live by the Pac-12 Networks. After concluding the trip with a noon start against the 49ers on Sunday, the Bears return to Spieker Aquatics Complex for a run of four straight at home that begins Oct. 31 against USC.