BAKERSFIELD – Senior captain Pippa Saunders scored the second of her two goals with 2:25 remaining to lift the No. 6 Cal women's water polo team to a 4-3 victory over No. 4 Arizona State on Friday in the quarterfinals of the MPSF Tournament at CSU Bakersfield.

The Bears (21-8) advance to the MPSF semifinals, where they will meet No. 1 USC (21-0) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Cal got a dominating performance from its defense, as goalies Madeline Trabucco and Madison Tagg split time and combined for 11 saves. The Sun Devils got on the board first with a goal with 12 seconds left in the first quarter, then didn't find the cage again until a penalty shot with 4:42 to play.

“They are both really great goalies,” Saunders said. “They both played really well and made a lot of crucial saves. Our team defense is good, but at the end of the day, our goalies are the last line of defense. They really stepped up.”

ASU tied it at 3-3 with a 6-on-5 goal with 2:55 left in the game, but Saunders, who had a goal earlier in the period to push Cal's advantage to 3-1, registered the game-winner on Cal's next possession.

“I got set up really well,” Saunders said. “It was entirely a team effort. There was a lot of good energy today.”

The win avenged a 7-6 road loss in four overtimes at ASU earlier this season and marked the eighth time in the past 12 meetings between the teams that the game has been decided by a single goal. Cal beat Arizona State 5-4 in the quarterfinals of last year's MPSF Tournament.

Junior Genevieve Weed and sophomore Carla Carrega also scored goals for the Bears, who lost at USC last Friday 11-6. Cal trailed only 4-3 near the end of the first half against the Trojans, but USC scored two goals during the final 12 seconds of the half to take command.

“Last week's game was definitely hard,” Saunders said. “We were so close and that turnaround at the end of the half was really crucial. We know their tendencies now and everyone is pretty confident going into tomorrow.”