BERKELEY. – The No. 4 California men's water polo team was bested in the Big Splash on Sunday falling to No. 3 Stanford 13-9 at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The loss locks the Golden Bears into the fourth seed at next weekend's MPSF Championship which will be hosted by the third-seeded Cardinal.
 
Prior to the match the Bears' five seniors: Albert Ponferada, Marci Szatmary, Nik Mirkovic, William Kelly, and Bende Pardi were all honored in a special Senior Day ceremony as they got ready for their final outing at Spieker.
 
Stanford got out to a quick start scoring a pair of goals in its first three possessions and held on to the lead from there on out to defeat Cal for the second time this season. The lead stretched to as many as five goals at 10-5 late in the third quarter. The Cardinal converted six of its seven powerplay opportunities while Cal went 1-for-8 in that category.
 
Freshman Beso Akhvlediani led the Bears with four goals including two in the second half and fellow freshman Tomas Perrone paced the team with three assists. Sophomore Maddox Arlett was the only other Bear with a multi-goal performance scoring a pair.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Aran Pina provided great defense throughout the contest collecting 12 saves, including a couple of key highlight plays that gave the Cal offense chances to close the gap down the stretch. The Bears pulled to within two at 11-9 with just over two minutes to go but Stanford iced the Big Splash with a pair of goals in a 20 second span to put the lead back at four.
 
Cal now has its sights set on the MPSF Championship and its first-round matchup with fifth-seed Johns Hopkins on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Avery Aquatic Center.