BERKELEY – The No. 5 Cal women's water polo team held No. 2 USC scoreless for over 16 minutes but ultimately fell to the Trojans 8-3 on Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Senior All-American goalie Madison Tagg was spectacular in the cage, registering 13 saves and stopping two penalty shots. She became the seventh player in Cal history to register 400 saves in a career (411).

Emma Wright, Sarah Siepker and Brigit Mulder scored goals for the Bears (13-5, 1-2 MPSF).

The Bears, who fell narrowly to USC 9-8 in February, got a spirited crowd excited immediately when Wright scored during the game's first minute on the 6-on-5. But that was the only goal Cal could muster in the first half and USC took a 6-1 lead into the intermission.

The Bears began the second half just like the first, as senior Sarah Siepker scored on the first possession of the third quarter. This time, Cal's defense stabilized the game. Mulder scored on a lob with 4:10 left in the third quarter to make it 6-3, and the Bears had a handful of other strong scoring chances that went unconverted.

"Video is going to be very frustrating because we are going to see how close we are to beating the top teams," Cal head coach Coralie Simmons said. "We played well defensively and had some decent looks at the cage."

Meanwhile, after USC's Kelsey McIntosh scored with 3:17 remaining in the second quarter, the Trojans didn't find the back of the cage again until Maud Megens netted her third goal of the match 2:42 remaining in the game. Tagg made countless brilliant stops during USC's scoring drought to keep the game within striking distance.

The Trojans scored the last goal of the game with one second remaining.

"We made some adjustments," Simmons said. "We just can't let teams score five goals without responding. I think we had some tunnel vision at the beginning of the game and didn't make that extra pass or get the best look possible. We started taking the shots we should have in the second half."

Cal is back at Spieker Aquatics Complex next Saturday to host No. 1 Stanford.
 

No. 2 USC 8, No. 5 Cal 3
USC 4 2 0 2 – 8
Cal 1 0 2 0 – 3
USC Goals: Maud Megens 3, Kelsey McIntosh 2, Bayley Weber, Denise Mammolito, Alejandra Aznar.
Cal Goals: Emma Wright, Sarah Siepker, Brigit Mulder
USC Saves: Amanda Longan 7.
Cal Saves: Madison Tagg 13