BERKELEY - A busy stretch of three matches in less than 24 hours last weekend resulted in two wins in three tries for the No. 3-ranked Cal men's water polo team and action continues this week with a trip to Santa Clara and a home contest against San Jose State. 

The Bears hit the road first as they travel to Silicon Valley on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. match against the Broncos at Sullivan Aquatic Center. Play returns to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Saturday when the Spartans come to Berkeley for an 11 a.m. match. 

Wins over No. 6 Long Beach State and No. 5 Pacific provided highlights in a week that saw the Bears open their home schedule in front of a great Friday night crowd. The next day, Cal ventured back to UC Davis to take part in the Aggie Roundup and split a pair of matches, pulling out a comeback win over the Tigers and dropping a sudden-death overtime decision to No. 9 Harvard.

LAST TIME OUT
Friday night at Spieker Aquatics Complex proved the perfect venue for Cal to open its home schedule as Nikos Delagrammatikas and Jack Deely scored two goals apiece to help lead the Bears to a 9-6 victory over Long Beach State. The next day, Cal got back to work with a morning match against Pacific and turned the tables late with five goals in the fourth period paving the way for a 10-8 victory. The day concluded with another close match as the Bears and Harvard battled into sudden death overtime with the Crimson emerging victorious. Safak Simsek led Cal offensively with four goals.

SCOUTING SANTA CLARA

• The Broncos enter the week with a 3-2 record after dropping a 19-6 decision to Stanford on Saturday. A 3-1 showing at the Princeton Invitational included victories over Johns Hopkins, Brown and Fordham as well as a loss to the host Tigers
• Junior utility player Mac Carey enters the week as Santa Clara's leading scorer with 14 goals. Fellow junior Ryan Werner is next with nine goals and sophomores Judge Washer and Arvin Bahia led the Broncos against Stanford with two goals apiece.
• Junior Keaton Fox is Santa Clara's go-to option in the cage and the Danville, Calif. native has started all five matches for the Broncos this season. He is part of a seven-player group - Fox, Sam Toriggino, Patrick Kirk, Reilley May, Dane Estrella, Shane Hughes and Carey - that has started every match so far this season.
• Cal and Santa Clara met once in 2017 with the Bears earning a 21-9 victory in Berkeley. Johnny Hooper led the charge with three goals, four assists, two steals and a field block. Luca Cupido, Connor Reid and Spencer Farrar all added hat tricks.

SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE

• The Spartans enter the week with a 3-2 record and will take on South Bay rival Santa Clara on Friday before making the trip to Berkeley. A season-opening loss to UC Davis has given way to a stretch in which San Jose State has won three of its last four with victories coming against Chapman, George Washington and Fresno Pacific.
• After scoring a game-tying goal in the first overtime, freshman Adam Bado scored the game winning goal for the Spartans against George Washington in sudden death. SJSU has rotated goalkeepers so far this season with T.J. Palmer, Yahav Fire and James O'Brien all seeing time in the cage.
• The Bears and Spartans met once in 2017 with Cal claiming a 20-6 win in Berkeley. Luca Cupido scored four times in the first period and finished with five goals while Johnny Hooper added two goals, six assists and two steals.

ON DECK
Cal hits the road for a pair of matches next week with trips to UC Irvine and Pepperdine on tap for Sept. 29 and 30. The Bears return to the Bay Area for the MPSF Invitational at Stanford from Oct. 12-14 and then come home for an Oct. 20 match against UC Santa Barbara that will be followed by the annual Cal Water Polo alumni game.