No. 4 Cal Splits Day 2 Of Overnght MPSF Invitational

Saturday, September 19

9:20 AM

California

8-0

UC Irvine

8-4

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Irvine	4	1	0	3	8
California	8	4	3	1	16

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
California	2	1	4	3	10
UCLA	4	4	1	2	11

Photo by: Daniel Moebus-Bowles/Cal Athletics

9/19/2026 6:47 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Cal Tops No. 13 UCI, Falls To No. 1 UCLA

By: Cal Athletics

STANFORD – The No. 4 California men's water polo team had a split performance on day two of the Overnght MPSF Invitational on Saturday defeating No. 13 UC Irvine 16-8 before being edged out by No. 1 UCLA 11-10 in the semifinal round.

The Golden Bears' first loss of the season sets them up for a chance at bronze tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. PT. Cal (8-1) will face the winner of this evening's battle between No. 2 USC and No. 3 Stanford.

No. 4 Cal 16, No. 13 UC Irvine 8
Cal came out firing in the first game of the day mounting an 8-0 run in the first five minutes. Six different Bears found the net in the run including sophomores Beso Akhvlediani and Kai Inoue who each had two.

The Anteaters (8-4) were quick to respond, cutting that lead in half by quarter's end, but the deficit was too deep as Cal padded the lead by winning the second quarter 4-1 to go up 12-5 at the half. The Bears held UCI scoreless in the third which all but sealed their eighth straight win.

Akhvlediani ended the contest with four goals, an assist, and a steal and three others joined him in double figures. Inoue dished out three assists to give him a five-point day as well. Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Aran Pina played the first three quarters and collected seven saves and a steal before junior Riley Clansen entered in the fourth.

No. 1 UCLA 11, No. 4 Cal 10
Cal showed resilience in its first game against a higher-ranked opponent this season pushing the No. 1 Bruins to the final play. After quickly falling behind 2-0, underclassmen Ilias Angelopoulos and Tomas Perrone chipped in a pair of goals to even the score, but UCLA scored twice more with just a minute to go to take the opening period 4-2 and ended the first half with a five-goal lead at 8-3.

The Bears came out of the half with a sense of urgency and went on a 3-0 run to make it a two-goal game while holding the nation's top team scoreless for just under seven minutes. The two teams exchanged goals at the end of the third period giving the Bruins a 9-7 lead.

With just under four minutes to go Cal found itself down 10-7, but the Bears did not quit as junior Dominic Brown started a 3-1 run with a highly-contested goal from the middle. Akhvlediani followed with a rocket of a goal and immediately followed that with a steal that would lead to a penalty drawn by junior Alex Oprea. Akhvlediani deposited the five-meter shot to cut the lead to one for the first time since late in the opening period.

With an 11-1 lead and just 40 seconds UCLA had a chance to put the game away drawing an exclusion to earn the powerplay. Despite playing down a man, the Bears got the stop with 13 seconds to go and had a chance to force the game to overtime but missed the game-tying shot at the buzzer.

After a slow start Cal won the second half 7-3 and held the Bruins to a season-low 11 goals. The Bears' defense stood tall when it was needed most coming up with timely turnovers and forcing UCLA to go 11-for-29 from the field. Pina played the full 32 minutes and secured eight saves.

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