Coming into the NorCal tournament, the No. 1 ranking affixed to the Cal men's water polo team meant very little to the squad's players. After all, the ranking was more a sign of respect alluding to the Bears' past two national championships than a reward for what they had accomplished to date in the 2008 season.

Well aware of this fact, the team set out to prove themselves against the best teams in the country at the Open. But following two dominating wins on Saturday, the Bears fell short in the quest for their first NorCal title since 2003, falling to No. 4 UCLA, 6-4, in the semifinals and losing an epic overtime thriller to No. 3 Stanford, 11-10, in the third-place game.

The final match with the Cardinal was tied at 8-8 after regulation. Following two periods of overtime play that saw both teams match each other goal-for-goal, the game headed into sudden death tied at 10-all. With 1:19 left in the period, Stanford's Jeffrey Schwimer closed the book on the contest with his third goal of the game.

Stanford's win was even more impressive given the fact that it trailed 6-2 at halftime.

"They are a team that can win a national championship; they have that caliber of players," Cal coach Kirk Everist said. "They were able to stay focused, not get frustrated and find their way back into the game."

Prior to the weekend, Everist noted that this tournament was a chance for the Bears (6-2) to catch up on changes that their opponents made during the off-season. As it turned out, the Bears had to get familiar with themselves.

Last week, the team welcomed Ivan Rackov and Luke Saponjic, who came straight from playing in the European Youth Championships. After being cleared to play by the NCAA Clearinghouse on Friday afternoon, the pair of Serbian freshmen were immediately thrown into the mix.

Their lack of familiarity with Cal's system caused some miscommunication issues, particularly on offense.

"We just added two new players in the last three days so everybody was confused as to who is going to do what," junior Spencer Warden said. "In the next couple of weeks we're going to work on communication-figuring out body movements and who is going to shoot when."

Even though the newcomers had to make adjustments on the fly, they still were able to fill up the back of the net. Rackov led all Cal players with three goals against the Cardinal (9-1) and Saponjic added two of his own.

"It's early in the season and we have to get them acclimated," Everist said. "I think there were times that they struggled, but I think they are good, solid, unselfish players that the team genuinely likes in the short period of time we've had them around."

Throughout the tournament, the Bears showed much potential that could be realized later on in the season.

The defense looked impressive in an 11-4 victory against No. 17 California Baptist (11-5) and an 8-4 win over No. 8 Long Beach State (5-4) on Saturday. And against the Bruins (4-1), the team took pride in holding their opponents to six goals.

With the backbone of the squad already set in place, Cal is confident that it can work out the kinks in its offense to put together a formidable squad.

"There's a lot of potential with this group," Everist said. "I saw some things out there that are really encouraging ... I think we're a really good team right now, but there's the potential to be an outstanding team."

Tags: FRANK REYNOLDS, KIRK EVERIST, CAL MEN'S WATER POLO