STOCKTON, Calif. – Defense provided the foundation and the Cal men's water polo team turned its effort on one end of the pool into success in the goal category as the No. 3-ranked Golden Bears blocked nine shots and got 13 saves from Bernardo Carelli en route to an 11-8 victory over No. 5 Pacific at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.

Just two nights after allowing 10 goals at UC Davis, Cal (6-0) showed an immediate effort to increase the intensity on the defensive end against a Pacific team known for its ability to score. The Bears didn't allow a goal until just before the halftime buzzer sounded, building a 5-1 lead and quieting a Pacific crowd that came ready to impose itself on the game.

Pacific (4-1) wasn't going to go away quietly though, and the Tigers narrowed the gap to three with Cal leading 8-5 at the end of three periods. A goal by Andrea de Nardi with 4:21 left brought the scoreboard back to even with the Bears and Tigers tied at 8.

Despite the rally, Cal didn't panic. Senior Vassilis Tzavaras set the stage for Cal to re-take the lead, delivering a loud block to deny a Pacific chance. Chase Hamming sprinted after the rebound and, after getting out in transition, the Bears earned an ejection to get on the 6 on 5.

After the time out, Hamming got right back into the action, finding Safak Simsek on a tight angle right next to the goal. The junior from Turkey made the opportunity count, firing a shot home to give Cal the 9-8 lead.

Pacific fought for another good chance to tie the game but Carelli was ready, stopping the shot and letting out a roar. Odysseas Masmanidis turned that good defense into good offense, spinning away from a defender and connecting with a shot longer than his usual 2-meter assignment to make it 10-8 with 1:56 left. Another field block with 55 seconds left allowed Cal to ice the clock and a last-second goal finished the scoring.

"I liked our team's ability to keep calm and get really good possessions," head coach Kirk Everist said. "We ended up scoring a couple goals but we got good possessions that last half of the fourth quarter after they tied it. Sometimes with a young team and some young players in there, you can get bad decisions but I felt like the guys made good passes, isolated people and were able to get good offense so we had a chance to score. We had five or six really good shots in the last four minutes, scored two of them, but we were keeping them honest and having to play defense when they're pinning their ears back and trying to go every time because they had momentum."

Carelli finished with 13 saves, often letting out the roar of a goalkeeper getting more confident by the game as Cal's starter. Tzavaras and Simsek each finished with a hat trick, Masmanidis scored twice and Spencer Farrar, Joe Molina and David Feingold added goals.

Defensively, Farrar and Tzavaras finished with three field blocks apiece to lead Cal on that end of the pool. With arms outstretched on seemingly every possession, the Bears forced Pacific into angles it didn't want to help Carelli have a big game.

"The blocking today was really important," Carelli said. "We played the game Kirk asked us to. We need to get high and get in the lane because that's the most important difference in getting shot blocks. That's going to help me a lot, it's going to help the team, help us get wins and help us try to win a national championship."

Next up for the Bears is the 2018 home opener as Long Beach State pays a visit to Spieker Aquatics Complex on Friday at 6 p.m. Cal heads back to Davis on Saturday to participate in the Aggie Roundup with a rematch against Pacific and a matchup with Harvard on tap.