BERKELEY – The defensive gains made a week earlier in a pair of tough road wins carried over to home competition for the Cal men's water polo team as the No. 3-ranked Bears limited visiting Long Beach State to just two first half goals and eventually claimed a 9-6 victory over the No. 6 49ers at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Defense proved pivotal early Friday as a home crowd enjoying its first water polo of the 2018 season got a chance to cheer the Bears to the early lead. Goalkeeper Bernardo Carelli provided the first big spark of the night, turning away a shot inside two meters to get Cal (7-0) out on the break. After an ejection on Long Beach State (6-2) gave the Bears the man advantage, Spencer Farrar connected with the game's first goal to put Cal up 1-0.

Penalty shot goals by senior Vassilis Tzavaras and freshman Jack Deely put Cal ahead 3-1 by the end of the first period and, after Johnathan Wong scored on a deflection to bring Long Beach State within one, Deely restored the two-goal advantage with a quick shot that found the net. Nikos Delagrammatikas added a goal before the break and Cal took a 5-2 lead to halftime.

Delagrammatikas added to Cal's lead with a 6 on 5 goal midway through the third period and Safak Simsek added a goal of his own, ripping a shot from long range to make it 7-3 at the end of three. Masmanidis and Chase Hamming added goals in the final period to stave off any thoughts of a comeback by Long Beach State.

Carelli finished with 11 saves as Cal's last line of defense while Masmanidis drew five ejections. Deely and Delagrammatikas led the Bears offensively with two goals apiece.

"Defensively, the numbers are good," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "I'd have to go back and watch video but holding them to six goals is a good number for us with three goals through three periods. We had some good saves out of the cage, some good field blocks, were able to get some steals. That's a good sign for this team. Offensively we hit a patch in the second half where we struggled a little bit. It just seemed like we were rushing and we kept turning the ball over. We even drew an ejection and just immediately threw it to the other team. It was a little helter skelter there for a little bit."

Cal returns to action on Saturday in Davis when it takes on Pacific and Harvard as part of the Aggie Roundup. Game time against the Tigers is set for 10:30 a.m. and the Bears and Crimson will square off at 2:15 p.m. After a Wednesday trip to Santa Clara, play returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Sept. 22 with an 11 a.m. match vs. San Jose State.