STANFORD, Calif. – With offense tough to come by and a determined UCLA squad across the pool, the Cal men's water polo team fought for four periods but couldn't mount the comeback it needed to overcome the Bruins as the Bears fell 8-5 to open play at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships hosted by Stanford.

Cal (18-3) will return to Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday at noon to face Penn State Behrend. The winner of that match will play the host Cardinal for third place on Sunday at 11 a.m. The third-place match, along with the championship match that follows, will be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks.

A pair of quick goals from UCLA put Cal (18-3) in position to chase the lead right away but the Bears responded just as fast as Luca Cupido found the corner of the net to put his team on the board and Safak Simsek followed with a power play goal to leave the score tied at 2 with one period down.

Goals by Odysseas Masmanidis and Johnny Hooper kept Cal close in the second period but UCLA (19-3) took another small measure of momentum into halftime as a deflected shot found the net just as the buzzer sounded to leave the Bruins up 6-4 at intermission. A scoreless third period left Cal down 7-4 heading to the fourth.

A highlight-reel goal from Hooper came courtesy of a great spin and pass from Cupido in transition and brought Cal within two with 5:08 left. That was all Cal got in the way of scoring though as UCLA added one more goal and ended the match with a three-goal victory. Senior Kevin Le Vine made six saves for the Bears and Cupido finished with two assists, two steals, one field block and four ejections earned.