LOS ANGELES - A tremendous season came to a close for the Cal men's water polo team with a familiar brand of resiliency as a back-and-forth battle with host USC featured physical play and big scoring runs but, in the end, a goal by the Trojans with just over two minutes to play made the difference as the Bears dropped a 12-11 decision in the semifinal round of the National Men's Water Polo Championships.

With the the result, Cal finishes its season with a 20-4 overall record. USC and UCLA will play in the championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m.

An electric atmosphere at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center helped the Trojans get an upper hand early and a goal by freshman Ryan Hurst represented Cal's lone score as USC took a 4-1 lead right away. The Bears re-claimed some momentum right as the period ended when Safak Simsek fired a shot to the corner of the cage and the ball just snuck in as the buzzer sounded to end the first eight minutes of the match.

Cal stormed back in the second period to pull even by halftime. Simsek scored his second goal of the night, Pedro Stellet connected on a backhand shot, Luca Cupido ricocheted a shot off the post and in and Vassilis Tzavaras tied the game to leave the Bears and Trojans knotted at 6 heading to the break.

Play got even more intense in the third period. Goals by Simsek and Nicholas Carniglia gave Cal its first lead but, after a brutality penalty was called on USC and forced Cupido out of the game briefly, Simsek converted the ensuing penalty shot to make it 9-7 Bears. Nikos Delagrammatikas followed with goal and Cal took a 10-7 lead with 2:37 left in the third.

The Bears kept a 10-9 advantage heading to the fourth period but USC tied the score on a goal by Marin Dasic with 6:34 left. Another Trojan goal put Cal behind but Carniglia evened things again with 3:50 remaining by spinning away from his defender to find a slight edge and fire his shot past goalkeeper McQuin Baron. 

USC scored the decisive goal on a shot by Grant Stein with 2:32 remaining. The Bears couldn't make up the difference from there and the match ended after Kevin Le Vine's 11th save of the day went out of bounds to give the ball back to the Trojans with 10 seconds left. 

"They put us on our heels a little bit early but, as this team has done time and time again and championship teams do, they don't flinch very easily and they didn't," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "They kept battling back and battling back and making it tougher and tougher and tougher. At the end, it became a heavyweight fight and they made a couple plays, a couple great shots that are just individuals putting the ball in the cage and sometimes you have to tip your cap and move on. It's a frustrating loss on a number of levels but I'm proud of the team for how they battled and how they fought and continued to come back and not give up."

Simsek led the Bears on the scoresheet with four goals. Carniglia scored twice and Stellet, Tzavaras, Cupido, Delagrammatikas and Hurst each added one.