USC Men's Water Polo's Efe Naipoglu Repeats for MPSF Newcomer of the Week Honors
October 20, 2025 | Men's Water Polo
The first-year Trojan totaled three goals, an assist, and two steals in a pair of road wins over ranked opponents this week
LOS ANGELES – USC men's water polo freshman driver Efe Naipoglu (Istanbul, Türkiye/Notre Dame de Sion French HS) was chosen as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Newcomer of the Week for the week of Oct. 13-19, the league announced on Monday, Oct. 20.
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The award is the second for Naipoglu who was also tabbed for the same honor on Oct. 6. It is the fifth overall for USC this fall. Strahinja Krstic (Belgrade, Serbia/Savremena Gimazija) was selected three times (Sept. 1, 8, 29)
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Naipoglu totaled five goals and two assists for seven points with two steals and a field block in wins over No. 13 Princeton (15-13) and at No. 1 UCLA (13-12). He had a hat trick, an assist, and the two steals against the Tigers and then scored twice to go with an assist and the field block against the Bruins. Naipoglu has scored in 13 of USC's 17 contests and picked up his fourth and fifth games with multiple goals this week. He reached 20 goals on the season and has 17 assists for 37 points to rank fifth on the team. Naipoglu is also USC's team-leader in steals with 20 to date.
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The third-ranked Trojans (15-2) defeated Princeton and then took down UCLA to move to 2-1 in conference play. The win over the nonconference Tigers put USC at 3-0 in home games. The Trojans will host their annual alumni game on Saturday (Oct. 25) at noon PT and will be back in regular-season action at Uytengsu Aquatics Center next weekend with home games against California (Nov. 1) and Stanford (Nov. 2). Both games will be shown on overnght.com streams with 1 p.m. PT starts.
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For more information on the USC men's water polo team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCWaterPolo on X and Instagram.
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The award is the second for Naipoglu who was also tabbed for the same honor on Oct. 6. It is the fifth overall for USC this fall. Strahinja Krstic (Belgrade, Serbia/Savremena Gimazija) was selected three times (Sept. 1, 8, 29)
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Naipoglu totaled five goals and two assists for seven points with two steals and a field block in wins over No. 13 Princeton (15-13) and at No. 1 UCLA (13-12). He had a hat trick, an assist, and the two steals against the Tigers and then scored twice to go with an assist and the field block against the Bruins. Naipoglu has scored in 13 of USC's 17 contests and picked up his fourth and fifth games with multiple goals this week. He reached 20 goals on the season and has 17 assists for 37 points to rank fifth on the team. Naipoglu is also USC's team-leader in steals with 20 to date.
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The third-ranked Trojans (15-2) defeated Princeton and then took down UCLA to move to 2-1 in conference play. The win over the nonconference Tigers put USC at 3-0 in home games. The Trojans will host their annual alumni game on Saturday (Oct. 25) at noon PT and will be back in regular-season action at Uytengsu Aquatics Center next weekend with home games against California (Nov. 1) and Stanford (Nov. 2). Both games will be shown on overnght.com streams with 1 p.m. PT starts.
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For more information on the USC men's water polo team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCWaterPolo on X and Instagram.
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