IRVINE, Calif. --- A high-scoring clash broke out at the Anteater Aquatics Complex Sunday afternoon as fourth-ranked California outlasted No. 10 UC Irvine, 19-15, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game.

The teams traded goals throughout the contest in the first meeting of the season between the UC schools.

The 'Eaters (13-8, 1-4 MPSF) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Jacob Mourer and Larson Pfeil in the first four minutes of the game.

Cal (19-3, 3-1) tied the game at 3-3 on a goal from Luca Cupido with one second remaining in the opening quarter.

The Bears scored the first three goals of the second quarter and maintained that margin at 9-6 at halftime.

UCI closed to within one at 11-10 on a goal by Matt Skinner with 2:59 left in the third quarter before Cal reclaimed its three-goal lead at 14-11 entering the final period.

Kyle Trush (7:40) and Jared Osborn (6:33) opened the fourth-quarter scoring to pull the 'Eaters within 14-13.

Aleksa Saponjic's goal on a penalty shot with 6:15 remaining extended the Bears' lead to 15-13, but Osborn answered with a penalty shot of his own 13 seconds later to close the gap to one goal once again at 15-14.

Cal then scored the next four goals, two by Cupido, to go up 19-14 before Trush closed out the scoring on a power play with 2:35 left.

Trush led UCI with three goals while Pfeil, Mourer, Osborn and Skinner scored two apiece.  Dylan Peterson made 13 saves in goal.

Cupido led the Bears with four goals and Colin Mulcahy added three.

"We opened up fast on them, the guys were chomping on the bit to attack," Anteaters' head coach Marc Hunt said.

"We fought back several times to keep it a one-goal game, but we must do a better job to get defensive stops late.

"We shot the ball well today.  Putting up 15 is strong, but we need to work better to get the stops.  The guys are committed to building a strong unit in a short amount of time," Hunt added.

UCI travels to Pepperdine Saturday for an MPSF game at 12:00 p.m. in Malibu.


California         3-6-5-5 --- 19
UC Irvine         3-3-5-4 --- 15

Cal:  Luca Cupido 4, Colin Mulcahy 3, Aleksa Saponjic 2, Luka Ivanovic 2, Conor Neumann 2, Chandler Jarrels-Stickney, J.D. Ratchford, Nicholas Carniglia, Thomas Agramonte, Farrel South, Pedro Stellet,

UCI:  Kyle Trush 3, Larson Pfeil 2, Jacob Mourer 2, Jared Osborn 2, Matt Skinner 2, Pablo Carballo, Alan Robertson, Lovre Milos, Ryan Warde.

Saves:   Jon Sibley (Cal) 6, Lazar Andric (Cal) 3;  Dylan Peterson (UCI) 13.