BERKELEY – A three-match race to the end of the regular season will provide the Cal men's water polo team with every opportunity to build momentum and confidence as the postseason draws closer.

On Saturday in front of a fantastic home crowd, the No. 4-ranked Bears got that stretch off to a great start as quality defense and efficient offense proved the right combination to claim the biggest win of the season to date as Cal opened Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play with a 9-7 win over No. 3 UCLA at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

A full house brought the noise under sunny Berkeley skies on Saturday and Cal (16-3, 1-0) didn't take long to claim the lead as Jordan Hoover scored from two meters just over two minutes into the game to put the Bears in front. After UCLA tied the score, Nikos Delagrammatikas put Cal ahead once again when he grabbed a rebound in front of the net and fired a backhand shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-1 Cal at the end of one period.

Cal's lead grew to 5-3 by halftime thanks to second-period goals from Spencer Farrar, Delagrammatikas and Safak Simsek. The advantage climbed to three by the end of the third period as Vassilis Tzavaras and Johnny Hooper each scored skip shot goals and Cal took a 7-4 advantage to the fourth.

UCLA (19-2, 0-1) wasn't going to go away quietly and a pair of Bruin goals cut Cal's lead to 7-6 with 2:12 left. That's when the Bears tightened the screws on defense though as they worked UCLA to the end of the shot clock to get the ball back with 1:14 remaining.

After a save by the Bruins sent them the other way in search of a tying goal, Tzavaras grabbed a steal at mid-tank, fed Simsek and the junior from Turkey drew a penalty shot in transition. Hooper converted the chance to make it 8-6 with 26 seconds left, UCLA scored with 17 seconds left and Marko Valecic added the game's final goal as time expired to clinch the two-goal win.

"That was a really good defensive effort for the most part," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "We were able to put some pressure on the ball without taking ejections and help back at center defense. We were in a bit of foul trouble there as the game went on but they've got two really good centers that are strong and hard to handle for that long. But, everybody stayed in the game so that was good. I thought there were times where our five-man (defense) was pretty good. We missed some assignments on a couple that gave them really nice looks at the cage. But, I thought those things were good."

Hooper and Delagrammatikas led the scoring charge with two goals apiece while Farrar, Tzavaras, Simsek, Hoover and Valecic each added one. Hooper finished with four steals and two assists, Odysseas Masmanidis drew all three ejections that Cal earned for the game and Bernardo Carelli made several key saves en route to six on the afternoon.

Cal hits the road for its second MPSF match as it travels to Los Angeles for a Saturday showdown at USC. Game time is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks. The regular season finale is set for Nov. 10 when Stanford visits Spieker Aquatics Complex for the annual Big Splash. Game time has yet to be announced and the match will again be broadcast live by Pac-12 Networks.