IRVINE, Calif. – A two-goal advantage at halftime turned into a six-goal lead by the end of three periods as the No. 4-ranked Cal men's water polo team pulled clear in the second half to earn a 15-9 victory over No. 13 UC Irvine at Anteater Aquatics Complex.

Cal (11-1) got out to an early lead thanks to senior Johnny Hooper as the Southern California native outscored UC Irvine (5-6) 3-1 in the first period. A pair of goals by Spencer Farrar and one from David Feingold maintained the two-goal advantage and gave the Bears a 6-4 lead at halftime.

The next eight minutes proved decisive as Cal turned up the offense to take control. Jordan Hoover and Vassilis Tzavaras got the Bears started to push the lead to 8-4 and after a goal by Jack Trush gave UC Irvine a brief respite, Cal scored four of the next five goals with Farrar, Safak Simsek, Hooper and Tzavaras all finding the net to make the score 12-6 after three.

Each team scored three times in the fourth period to close the scoring as Simsek finished off a hat trick with two goals and Nikos Delagrammatikas added his name to the scoresheet.

Hooper led Cal in the goal category with four but also thrived in the role of playmaker with a team-high seven assists. Farrar and Simsek both recorded hat tricks while Tzavaras added two goals and three assists. Bernardo Carelli got the start in the cage and made 10 saves in three and a half periods of play.

Cal won't rest for long as the Bears head from Orange County to the coast for a 1 p.m. match at Pepperdine on Sunday. Live video and stat links are available on the Schedule page at CalBears.com. Action returns to the Bay Area on Oct. 12 when Cal begins three days of play at the MPSF Invitational hosted by Stanford.