One year after a two-loss showing at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, the Bruins return to conference play with a second-place finish.

No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo (9-1) will travel to Berkeley on Saturday to open Mountain Pacific Sports Federation competition against No. 4 California (8-2) at the Spieker Aquatic Complex. After dropping two games at last season’s Barbara Kalbus Invitational – including a 10-goal loss to then-No. 1 Stanford – UCLA returned this year with a 2-1 finish.

UCLA defeated No. 13 Fresno State 17-10 and No. 3 USC 10-9 before falling 8-7 to No. 1 Stanford in the title match at this year’s invitational. The Bruins trailed by one goal in the final minute against the Cardinal.

Even with the loss, there is a lesson.

“We’re going to focus on calming down and being a little more centered going into these sort of games,” said redshirt senior attacker Emma Lineback. “It’s really easy to come out moving at too little fast of a pace, rushing things, making the right decision but rushing it, and now we’re scrambling out the other way, so we need to find our composure earlier.”

Senior center Bia Mantellato scored six goals – with five coming in the second half – as the Bruins outscored the Trojans 9-6 after halftime.

“It was a great weekend overall for us,” Mantellato said. “We had some great moments and a lot of things to learn from so we’re obviously not happy about losing, but we fought until the end and we know we can clean up a lot of mistakes.”

Now, the Bruins turn their attention to conference play.

“The season now changes for sure,” said interim co-head coach Jason Falitz. “The beginning of the women’s season has a lot of tournaments. You’re playing and preparing for multiple opponents every week. It can be frantic (with) long games, so for us to have the ability to play a stretch here at home, to be in our own beds, to not have to get on airplanes or buses – it really gives us the ability to now start to really build with our training.”

Cal finished fourth at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational after falling 15-12 to No. 3 USC in the third-place game, dropping to 8-2 overall. The Golden Bears trailed 9-5 at halftime after the Trojans capitalized on multiple power-play opportunities in a first half that featured 19 combined exclusions.

Cal narrowed the deficit to three goals late in the fourth quarter but was unable to close the gap further in the loss.

USC’s only two losses this season have come against the Bruins.

Defensively, the Bruins are focusing on their jobs to make the stop happen.

“Cal, USC, Stanford – those are all great teams,” Mantellato said. “We treat everything the same, so we’re really focusing on us and doing things that are right.”

UCLA and Cal last met in the 2025 MPSF tournament semifinals, when then-No. 1 UCLA defeated then-No. 4 Cal 15-14 to advance to the conference championship. UCLA would advance to the MPSF championship with the win and extend its winning streak over the Golden Bears to five games.

With all of the tournaments behind them, Saturday marks the start of the conference slate.

“It starts with training every day,” Falitz said. “We got to get back at it because now I hope the group understands where they can go and what they can do after this weekend.”

Six Bruins scored in the semifinal victory over the Golden Bears, led by senior attacker Taylor Smith and Mantellato, who each recorded four goals, completing hat tricks in the first half.

Senior utilities Genoa Rossi and Anna Pearson also added two goals apiece, and junior goalkeeper Lauren Steele totaled 18 saves.

Of the contributors from that matchup, 21 UCLA players returned from last year’s roster to the 2026 squad, including several key scorers and Steele in the cage.

With a team of veterans returning to the pool, the Bruins remain as one.

“We’re trying to be consistent and learn to play consistent four quarters,” Lineback said. “The freshmen, even the people who are playing more minutes than they did last year, are doing a really great job of stepping into the role and being able to go in and play freely and unafraid.”