STANFORD – Kelly McKee scored the game-winning goal with 2:54 remaining and the fourth-seeded Cal women's water polo team got by No. 5 UC Irvine 6-5 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships on Friday at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center.

The Bears (20-7) advance to Saturday's NCAA semifinals, where they will play top-seeded UCLA (25-2).

Cal built a 4-1 lead early on but the Anteaters (19-9) scored four unanswered goals to take a 5-4 lead with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter. All-MPSF sophomore Dora Antal tied the game back up with a 6-on-5 goal at the 3:41 mark of the third period.

The teams both went scoreless for over a full quarter of play before McKee went cross-cage to beat UC Irvine goalie Jillian Yocum for a 6-5 advantage. The Bears then got steals from Stephanie Mutafyan, Roser Tarrago and Dora Antal on UC Irvine's next three possessions to close it out.

Tarrago and Antal each scored two goals for the Bears, who are in the NCAA semifinals for the second consecutive season. Antal now has 137 career goals to move into ninth place on the Bears' all-time list.

After the Anteaters scored the game's first goal, Tarrago struck with back-to-back goals in less than two minutes to put the Bears up 2-1 with 4:47 left in the first period. Antal then scored her first goal – also on the 6-on-5 – to make it 3-1 with 3:25 remaining in the opening quarter.

Senior Tiera Schroeder scored on the first possession of the second period to push Cal's advantage to 4-1, but the Bears were then held scorless until Antal's game-tying goal midway through the third.

Sophomore goalie Madeline Trabucco made eight saves for the Bears. Antal finished with three steals.

The Bears faced UCLA in the MPSF Championship game two weeks ago and lost 9-8.