BERKELEY – A late flurry of offense got the Cal men's water polo team within reach of No. 1-ranked UCLA and perhaps offered good signs for the future but the rally wasn't quite enough to overcome the Bruins' advantage as the No. 3 Bears dropped a 10-7 decision in the championship game of the Mountain Pacific Invitational at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

A scorching hot day in Berkeley brought three days of water polo to a close for 16 teams in Northern California and the Bears and Bruins squared off in the first of what could be several meetings this year. UCLA (15-0) took a slim lead early, building a 3-2 margin despite goals by Chandler Jarrels and Nicholas Carniglia that kept the Bears right in the mix to start the game.

With leading scorer Johnny Hooper ejected in the first period due to a misconduct call, Cal (11-1) looked for offense in several different places. That search didn't yield anything in the second period, and the Bruins took a 5-2 lead to halftime. UCLA scored the first two goals of the third to take a 7-2 lead before Odysseas Masmanidis found the net after an impressive spin away from his defender with 5:53 left in the period.

From that point forward, Cal began to find a bit of rhythm on offense. Another goal by Masmanidis and one from Luca Cupido got the Bears a little closer, making it 9-5 at the end of three periods. Masmanidis struck again to start the fourth, pumping several times and finally beating UCLA goalkeeper Garrett Danner to bring the score to 9-6 with 6:54 left to play.

Cal got even closer a few minutes later. Given a power play opportunity, Jarrels converted for the Bears, firing high and just past Danner to make the score 9-7 with 3:53 remaining. UCLA had an answer though, and a power play goal by Patrick Fellner with 2:30 left pushed the Bruins' lead back to three. Cal couldn't get any closer and that provided the final margin.

"It's a step for the team. We came in third, we leave second and that's a better place to be," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "It's going to be a process. (UCLA) hasn't lost in over a year for a reason. They're a tough team. We've always had hard games with them. I thought we finally kind of found a couple things that bothered them towards the end of the game. It was a good learning experience to kind of punch and counter-punch and see what the other team is going to do against you. I definitely think we found some things that we can build off of and we'll go back to work tomorrow."

Cal remains at home next weekend as the Bears host a pair of non-conference matches at Spieker. UC Santa Barbara returns to Berkeley for a noon match on Saturday and San Jose State pays a visit on Sunday for a 1 p.m. contest. Cal wraps up its longest home stretch of the season on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. against Long Beach State.