BERKELEY – A focused Cal men's water polo team took the Spieker Aquatics Complex pool under the lights Thursday and didn't waste any time taking control against visiting Long Beach State as a dominant first period set the No. 2-ranked Bears up for a 17-7 victory over the No. 6-ranked 49ers.

A pleasant evening in Berkeley brought plenty of early offense for Cal (14-1) as Johnny Hooper, the MPSF's leading scorer, scored a pair of goals in the first minute to give the Bears a lead. Vassilis Tzavaras, Thomas Carroll and Safak Simsek followed with goals of their own, two of which came with the man advantage, and a long-distance shot from Connor Reid skipped in to finish a 6-0 period for Cal.

That roll continued in the second period. After drawing an exclusion on their first offensive possession of the period, Odysseas Masmanidis took a pass from Simsek and converted from two meters to make it 7-0. Hooper added a goal on a penalty shot, Luca Cupido whipped a backhand past both a defender and the goalkeeper, Nicholas Carniglia scored to make it an even 10 and Simsek skipped a shot in from long range to end the half with Cal firmly in command at 11-0.

Cal went to its bench in the second half and continued to find the net. Tzavaras, Hooper and Carroll added goals as Long Beach State (9-4) hit the scoreboard for the first time. The 49ers got a good contribution late in the match from Austin Stevenson, who scored three goals over the final period, but a pair of goals by Timothy Simenc and one from Matt Sherburne wrapped up the scoring for the Bears.

While the Bears extended the lead on the offensive end, Lazar Andric continued to look the part of a brick wall in front of goal. Cal's senior goalkeeper stopped 12 shots, a few of which came from close range, and grabbed four steals before giving way to freshman Bernardo Carelli late in the third period. Hooper led Cal offensively with four goals while Simsek, Carroll, Tzavaras and Simenc each scored two in the win.

"I thought we were sharing the ball really well, moving it around, making passes, finishing and playing really good defense," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "Long Beach didn't get a whole lot of good opportunities and when they did, Lazar was there. That first half was about as good as we can play, to date for sure."

Cal now takes the weekend off from competition and turns its attention to its next match, the annual alumni game that will take place Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. at Spieker. The Bears' next intercollegiate match comes Oct. 22 when No. 1-ranked UCLA visits Berkeley for a game that will be televised by Pac-12 Networks. Game time for that match has yet to be announced.