The No. 3 Cal men's water polo team believed for much of the 2008 season that, regardless of its failure to come through in clutch situations against other top teams, it would be able to figure things out before the season's end and have a good shot at winning the MPSF Tournament.

However, at Raleigh Runnels Aquatic Center in Malibu, Calif., this past weekend, the Bears saw the curtain close prematurely on their season with an 11-8 loss in their first-round game with No. 5 UCLA, as things simply failed to fall into place like the team had planned.

"Things just don't show up, they need to be there all along," junior Mike Sample said. "Hoping doesn't really do much. Hoping that we were going to click isn't good enough."

Sample and the rest of his teammates kept pace with the Bruins (16-8, 5-3 in the MPSF) until three minutes before the halftime buzzer sounded, when UCLA scored three consecutive goals to go up, 8-5.

Entering the final period, the Bears (19-9, 4-4) found themselves down by four goals.

Throughout the season, when faced with similar deficits against top teams, Cal has seemed to make offensive runs late in games. On Friday, with UCLA shutting down its offensive attack to concentrate on defense, the Bears struggled to get things in motion.

After freshman Luka Saponjic scored on Cal's first possession of the second half, it wasn't until just over two minutes were left in the final period that Cal was able to get on the board again, courtesy of Saponjic's second goal.

"We had so many opportunities to tack on another goal," sophomore Brian Dudley said. "Instead of taking our opportunities and slowing it down, when we got an extra man we tried to rush things and take early shots."

The loss meant that, theoretically, the Bears had played their last meaningful game of the 2008 season. They needed to win the MPSF finals in order to secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

As a result, the only games left on their schedule were to determine their final placement in the MPSF Tournament.

On Saturday, Cal was pitted against No. 10 UC Irvine (11-15, 1-7). In a stunning upset, the Anteaters came out ahead, 13-12, in sudden-death overtime thanks to a penalty shot by sophomore Brandon Johnson.

"It was tough to get motivated, but I'm sure they were on the same path-they lost a tough game to USC," Dudley said. "You can look it as each team was playing on an even playing field."

Cal was finally able to get its head on straight in time for the seventh-place game against No. 8 Long Beach State (14-18, 2-6).

The Bears, who wanted to end their season on a positive note, won in a 13-9 victory.

"It really all came down to pride and not losing your last game," Sample said.

In the fourth quarter, Cal dictated play by keeping the 49ers scoreless and managing three goals of its own. Like most of their wins this season, the Bears distributed the scoring load throughout the team, as five players notched two goals.

Tags: CAL MEN'S WATER POLO, KIRK EVERIST, MPSF TOURNAMENT