No. 4 Cal Falls In Sudden Death At No. 3 USC 15-14

Saturday, October 3

Los Angeles, CA

1:00 PM PT

California

9-3

USC

12-1

Team	1	2	3	4	OT	OT	SD	Final F
California	3	3	4	2	1	1	0	14
Southern California	3	4	3	2	2	0	1	15

Photo by: Daniel Moebus-Bowles/Cal Athletics

10/3/2026 6:09 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

Bears Edged Out By Trojans In MPSF Opener

By: Cal Athletics

LOS ANGELES – The second meeting between the No. 4 California men's water polo team and No. 3 USC was even tighter than the first as the Golden Bears pushed the Trojans to sudden death but ultimately fell 15-14 Saturday in Los Angeles.

Just two weeks ago the two teams met for the first time this season with the Trojans (12-1, 1-0 MPSF) coming back from down three goals to take lead on their final possession and secure a 13-12 third-place win at the Overnght MPSF Invitational in Stanford. This time, at Uytengsu Aquatics Center, it would take seven periods to decide a winner in the back-and-forth thriller to open MPSF play.

Cal (9-3, 0-1 MPSF) was once again led offensively by sophomore Beso Akhvlediani who scored four goals and added two assists and a field block. Four others joined him with multi-goal efforts including freshman Ilias Angelopoulos who had two goals and four draw exclusions. On the defensive end, sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina tied his career high with 15 saves and added three steals.

After Patrik Kolak opened the day with a first-possession goal on a power play granted by the first of Dominic Brown's three drawn exclusions of the day, the Trojans went on a 3-0 run to take an early lead. Cal then went on a 3-1 run of its own to take a lead at 5-4 but found itself trailing 7-6 at halftime.

From there the two teams traded punches with neither program taking more than a one-goal lead in regulation. With six minutes to go in the fourth, USC went up 11-10 on a power-play goal but Cal was quick to respond scoring an even goal on its next possession and then taking the lead on a deep goal by Akhvlediani with four minutes and 11 seconds to go.

That 12-11 edge held for four minutes and 10 seconds as the Bears staved off three separate USC power plays but allowed a fourth that led to a Trojan goal with just one second to go to force overtime.

After coming up empty on their first possession of overtime, the Bears suffered two straight transition goals giving USC a 14-12 lead. Brown cut that lead in half with his second goal of the game at the 42-second mark and Pina came up with perhaps one of the biggest plays of the contest with a point-blank transition save at the buzzer of the first period. With just a minute left to go in the second period, Tomas Perrone took matters into his own hands drawing an exclusion and scoring his second goal of the game, an equalizer to force sudden death at 14-14.

Cal won its first sprint of the day in sudden death and even staved off a Trojan penalty shot without Pina in the cage but could not convert on any of its three chances as USC scored on a counter to end it.

Cal will wrap up its weekend road trip tomorrow facing No. 1 UCLA at Spieker Aquatics Center at 1 p.m. on Overnght.

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For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on X (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).