BERKELEY – Another strong first half got the Cal men's water polo team off to a good start and nearly the entire roster got a chance to contribute by the end of the match as the Bears downed San Jose State 16-9 and finished a two-win weekend at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

One day after beating UC Santa Barbara, Cal returned to action Sunday against the Spartans. San Jose State hit the scoreboard first, with Finn Pardon finding the net within the first minute to give the Spartans the lead, but Cal ran off the next five goals to take control. Johnny Hooper, Safak Simsek, Mikey Williams, Nicholas Carniglia and Thomas Carroll all hit the scoresheet, Pedro Stellet added a goal late in the period and the Bears led 6-3 after one.

That lead grew to 11-5 by halftime, with Hooper adding two more goals and Conor Neumann, Jordan Hoover and Williams also tallying. Williams finished the scoring by breaking out and converting on a 1 on 1 showdown with the San Jose State goalkeeper, and Cal took the break with control of the scoreboard.

Personnel shifted throughout the second half, with Kevin Le Vine taking over in goal for starter Bernardo Carelli and field players rotating in and out. A pair of goals by Williams in the third period helped the lead continue to grow and second half goals from Chase Hamming, J.D. Ratchford and Jack Pickard rounded out the scoring. Carelli stopped seven shots in the first half and Le Vine made eight saves in the second.

"We started off with a mix of people at the beginning. Bernardo got a start, Connor Reid got a start, Tim Simenc got a start and we tried to see if we could get some different people in early," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "We've got a lot of confidence in our whole team and it was good to get them rolling, get them into the game that way and have our other guys help out the younger players early with some pressure. It's always good to get your backup goalkeepers and some of your younger players in when it's 0-0 as opposed to when you get on a three, four or five-goal run. There's a little more tension when its 0-0 and they're supposed to get the lead. We wanted to give them that experience and put a little pressure on them to perform."

Sunday's win, combined with Saturday's victory over UC Santa Barbara, pushed the Bears to 13-1 on the season as they continue to navigate non-conference play and prepare for MPSF action in a few weeks.

"I thought yesterday's first half was about as good as we can play and then it got off the rails a little bit in the fourth quarter," Everist said. "I was super happy with how they played in the first half and in the second we got away from ourselves a little bit. I don't know if we ever allowed them back in the game but we didn't extend the lead and give our 2s and 3s chances to get some quality reps, which was disappointing."

Cal returns to Spieker on Thursday night for a rare match under the lights when the Bears will host Long Beach State at 7 p.m. in non-conference action. The annual alumni game takes place at 10 a.m. on Oct. 15 and action resumes on Oct. 22 when Cal hosts UCLA in a game that will be televised by Pac-12 Networks. The start time for that match has yet to be announced.