SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Having already played host UC Santa Barbara twice this season, the Cal men's water polo team knew it was in for a challenge as it traveled to Southern California to open the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season.

That test proved particularly evident through three periods but the No. 4-ranked Bears had the answers in the final frame as Cal outscored No. 6 UCSB 4-0 in the fourth period to pull out a 12-8 victory and open the conference season with a victory at Campus Pool.

Tied at 8 heading into the final eight minutes Saturday, Cal (12-2) took the lead for good with five minutes remaining when Johnny Hooper struck to make it 9-8 Bears. Just over a minute later, Luca Cupido added another Cal goal to push the lead to two  and Odysseas Masmanidis tacked on another with 3:12 to play to leave Cal up 11-8. Hooper found the net again with 1:21 remaining and the Bears rode that four-goal advantage to the final buzzer for the hard-fought win.

Cal's late game heroics loomed particularly large given the strong defense the Bears turned in over the final eight minutes. UC Santa Barbara (9-3) held a narrow 5-4 lead at halftime, then scored three goals in the third to keep pace but the Bears shut the Gauchos out in the last period, giving their offense a chance to create separation on the scoreboard.

Cupido, Masmanidis and Colin Mulcahy each scored three goals to lead Cal offensively. Hooper added two and Farrel South scored the other to round out the scoring. Lazar Andric went the distance in goal for the Bears and stopped eight shots. Cal returns to Berkeley for a week of class and practice before returning to Southern California next weekend to take part in the Kap7 SoCal Invitational hosted by Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.