No. 3 USC Men’s Water Polo Prepares for No. 13 Tigers and No. 1 Bruins

LOS ANGELES – No. 3 USC (13-2, 1-1 MPSF) hosts Thirteenth-ranked Princeton (14-6, 4-1 NWPC) for a midweek dwelling contest at Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Tuesday (Oct. 14, 5 p.m. PT) after which faces crosstown rival No. 1-ranked UCLA (18-0, 2-0 MPSF) within the first of two regular-season conferences on the Bruins’ Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday (Oct. 18, 1 p.m.). Both video games will probably be proven reside on overnght.com streams. The Trojans’ solely two losses have are available 13-11 outcomes to California—as soon as on the MPSF Invitational and one other in a street sport in Berkeley for convention play. It will probably be 9 days between video games when the Trojans get within the pool with the Tigers on Tuesday night.

THIS WEEK

GAME #16 • Tuesday, Oct. 14 • 5 p.m. PT

No. 3 USC (13-2) vs. No. 13 Princeton (14-6)

Uytengsu Aquatics Center • Los Angeles, Calif.

SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 9-0 (1.000)

LAST MEETING: W 11-8 (Dec. 1, 2022 • Westwood, Calif.)

TV/STREAM: overnght.com

OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoPrincetonTigers.com

GAME #17 • Saturday, Oct. 18 • 1 p.m. PT

No. 3 USC (13-2, 1-1) at No. 1 UCLA (18-0, 2-0)

Spieker Aquatics Center • Los Angeles, Calif.

SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 80-74-1 (.519)

LAST MEETING: L 11-8 (Dec. 8, 2024 • Stanford, Calif.)

TV/STREAM: overnght.com

OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCLABruins.com

OPENING SPRING (TL;DR)

• USC is led by seventh-year head coach Marko Pintaric. Overall, Pintaric is 113-40 (.739) because the Trojans’ head coach. He can also be 82-9 as head coach of USC’s girls’s workforce and led the Women of Troy to the 2021 NCAA title.
• The Trojans are ranked No. 3 within the Oct. 8 CWPA Coaches Poll.
• USC is 2-0 at dwelling and 6-1 on the street this season.
• The Men of Troy will face crosstown rival UCLA within the first of two regular-season conferences. USC was 1-4 in 5 video games in opposition to the Bruins in 2024. The win (Nov. 24) got here within the MPSF championship sport.
• USC has outscored opponents 231-143 in 15 video games and averages 15.4 targets per sport. The Trojans additionally common 10.8 saves per sport.
• Four Trojans have scored 20-plus targets this season led by 39 from Robert López Duart. Mihailo Vukazic (36), Strahinja Krstic (26), and Jack Martin (22) comply with carefully. All 4 have scored in not less than 10 video games whereas López Duart and Vukazic have every scored in all 15 of USC’s contests.
• USC goalies have mixed to permit simply 143 targets (9.53 gaa) and have produce 10.80 saves per sport.

POLL POSITION | USC began 2025 ranked No. 2 within the nationwide preseason ballot and was second within the MPSF Coaches Poll. The Trojans are No. 3 within the Oct. 8 ballot. 
 
LAST TIME OUT | The Trojans went to Northern California and break up a pair of street video games to open MPSF play. The Trojans collected a 14-10 win over No. 4 Stanford on The Farm behind a 13-save efficiency from Bernardo Herzer. Jack Vort, Andrej Grgurevic, and Mihailo Vukazic every scored three targets apiece within the win. In their second Bay Area sport, the Trojans went into halftime tied with the No. 2-ranked Golden Bears, five-all, however Cal constructed a 13-10 lead with simply 11 seconds left earlier than USC scored yet another with six seconds to play. Charlie Mills went wire-to-wire within the cage and produced 11 saves within the loss. Vukazic picked up a second hat trick on the weekend with three targets in opposition to the Bears.
 
BY THE NUMBERS | Through 15 video games, Robert López Duart leads USC’s scoring cost with 39 targets, having struck not less than as soon as in each sport with a number of targets tallied in a team-best 10 video games. Newcomer Mihailo Vukazic has additionally scored not less than one aim in all 15 video games in his first season as a Trojan and has 36 targetsto this point. On the setup aspect, Stefan Brankovic leads the workforce with 30 assists and is third on the workforce with 45 factors. On protection, three goalies have seen time within the cage. Redshirt sophomore Charlie Mills has capped up in 11 video games, redshirt junior Bernardo Herzer in eight and redshirt freshman Nemo Pavoggi with one look. The goalkeeping corps has mixed for a mean of 10.80 saves per sport. As a workforce, USC has outscored its opponents 231-143 for a mean of 15.4 targets per sport offensively and a 9.5 goals-against common.
 
SWEEPS WEEK | USC swept MPSF weekly awards the primary week the season, with Robert López Duart (Player of the Week) and Strahinja Krstic (Newcomer of the Week) chosen on Sept. 1. It was a primary for each Trojans. López Duart was a four-time MPSF Newcomer of the Week in 2024. A two-meter man from Belgrade, Serbia, Krstic scored seven targets for USC on the Triton Invitational and had one help in his debut outing, a 10-7 win at No. 12 UC San Diego. He adopted that with back-to-back multi-goal video games after which had a hat trick in a 23-9 win over George Washington. An All-American, López Duart was USC’s prime scorer on the Triton Invitational with 12 targets and scored a number of targets in all 4 USC wins.
 
MIHAILO MAKES HIS MARK | Sr. Mihailo Vukazic exploded for a career-high eight targets—second most by a Trojan in a sport—throughout USC’s 13-8 win at No. 8 UC Irvine (Sept. 13) and earned MPSF Player of the Week honors on Sept. 15. It was his first MPSF award with USC. He scored USC’s first 4 targets of the sport and had six of seven by halftime. His seventh aim was the game-winner as he put the Trojans on prime 9-6. Vukazic’s eight targets matched UCI’s complete as a workforce. He additionally added two steals, an help and had three drawn exclusions.
 
FRESH WATER | Fr. Strahinja Krstic earned has earned the MPSF Newcomer of the Week award 3 times this fall (Sept. 1, Sept. 8, Sept. 29). His third got here following a 2-0 week for the Trojans on wins over Pacific and UC Davis. Against the Tigers, Krstic scored one aim. In the second sport, he had two targets and an help, picked up two steals and drew a pair of exclusions. To date, the first-year Trojan has scored in 13 video games for a complete of 26 targets and has produced eight video games with a number of targets. Fr. Efe Naipoglu picked up his first-career Newcomer of the Week award on Oct. 6 to present Trojans a complete of 4 on the season. He had three targets and an help in USC’s MPSF opening weekend on the street.
 
LOCKED AND LOADED | Seven gamers return to the water for USC in 2025 who scored 20 or extra targets in 2024, together with prime scorer Robert López Duart, who was an NCAA all-tournament workforce honoree alongside goalie Bernardo Herzer and Andrej Grgurevic. López Duart’s team-leading 64 targets final season was only one greater than USC’s incoming powerhouse first-team All-American and 2024 Cutino Award finalist Mihailo Vukazic who joined the Trojans as a grad switch from Pacific. Vukazic is one among three proficient Serbian merchandise to cap up in Cardinal and Gold this season. An All-America honorable point out recipient in his first season at USC, Stefan Brankovic is joined by fellow countrymen Vukazic and freshman Strahinja Krstic. 
 
SET STRENGTH | Fr. Strahinja Krstic is tabbed for responsibility as a member of USC’s daunting two-meter crew. His abilities have been on show the previous two summers whereas competing for Serbia on the 2025 U20 and 2024 U18 World Championships. Despite the commencement of longtime gap man Max Miller, USC’s two-meter depth will probably be bolstered by Krstic’s arrival and the return of veterans Jack Martin, Zac Crenshaw, Connor Cohen, and Spencer Averitt.
 
PERIMETER ATTACK | When it involves outdoors firepower, confirmed Trojan abilities Robert López Duart and captain Andrej Grgurevic have reinforcements from a number of key returners. Lefties Jack Vort and Zach Bettino are again for extra whereas Luke Nelson and Evan Ausmus are primed to energy the Trojan offense after one other 12 months within the pool. Sophomores Chase Landa, Taj Whitehead and Ben Mirisch are additionally set to issue into USC’s offensive onslaught.
 
CAGE FIGHTERS | Not one however two of USC’s captains will probably be capped up in crimson—goalies Bernardo Herzer and Charles Mills. Both frolicked with Team USA in the summertime and competed with the U.S. Senior and Junior nationwide groups, respectively. The duo will probably be a tricky tandem to crack and their management out and in of the cage will assist develop USC’s two youthful goalies, Nemo Pavoggi and Luke Harris. Pavoggi is in line to see time within the cage following his redshirt freshman season, whereas Harris will redshirt in 2025.
 
NEW CREW | There are seven true freshmen on the USC roster, together with a set of U.S. Youth National teamers Colt Bradley, Gavin Conant, Reed Hanna, and Luke Harris, who competed for Team USA collectively on the 2024 U18 World Championships. The worldwide expertise on this freshman class expands additional with the addition of Breydon Congo, who competed for Canada’s Junior National Team, and Turkish expertise Efe Naipoglu, who’s a member of the Türkiye National Team.
 
PINTA’S PROGRAM | Head coach Marko Pintaric—who has been a part of 14 NCAA championships throughout his 25 years on the USC teaching workers—is in his seventh 12 months on the helm of the Trojan males’s program. Last season, he guided the Trojans to a twentieth consecutive NCAA look and helped USC attain the NCAA ultimate for the nineteenth time. He additionally led the Trojans to their third straight MPSF event championship. An All-American and a member of USC’s 1998 NCAA championship workforce, Pintaric served as co-head coach for the USC males for 3 seasons (2016-18) and most just lately helped the Trojans win the 2018 NCAA championship. His USC teaching profession started as an assistant coach to each the USC women and men’s applications in 2001.