No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Picks Up Pair Of Dominant Victories At Triton Invitational

Saturday, August 29

La Jolla, Calif

12:00 p.m.

USC

2-0

McKendree

0-4

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
McKendree	1	1	2	1	5
Southern California	9	7	6	8	30

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	2	1	3	3	9
Southern California	6	8	7	7	28

No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Picks Up Pair Of Dominant Victories At Triton Invitational

August 29, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

LA JOLLA, Calif. – The USC men's water polo team continued play at the annual Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego.

In the second game of the weekend the No. 2 Trojans rolled through McKendree 30-5. The Trojans led wire to wire before securing another comfortable win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by a score of 28-9.

#2 USC 30, McKendree 5
USC started the game hot, scoring the first four goals of the game and led 8-1 after the first quarter with freshman phenom Tyler Anderson scoring a first quarter hat trick. The USC lead ballooned to 14 at the half as the Trojans took a 16-2 into the break. Reed Hanna scored three straight goals in the second quarter, as the Trojan defense clamped down, holding McKendree scoreless for over eight minutes across the first half.

The USC dominance continued into the second half, scoring the first eight of the first nine goals coming out of the locker room. The Trojans hit the 30 goal mark for the first time since 2024 as they coasted to a 30-5 victory.

Reed Hanna led the way offensively, tying his career high with four goals. Tyler Anderson, Nate Simoncelli, Cam Kocur and Breydon Congo added three goals apiece. Charlie Mills started the game in goal, racking up three saves in the first quarter before Nemo Pavoggi stepped in for the final three frames. Pavoggi recorded 11 saves, a new career high.

Notables

Tyler Anderson scored his first career hat trick in the first quarter
Reed Hanna tied his career high in goals with four
Camden Kocur, Breydon Congo, Adrian Senciac and Nate Simoncelli all scored their first career goals with Kocur and Simoncelli registering hat tricks
Nemo Pavoggi made a career high 11 saves in three quarters in goal for USC
The 30 goals is the most goals the Trojans have scored in a game since Nov. 22, 2024 against Austin College at the MPSF Tournament where they scored 31
It is the Trojans' third time scoring 30 or more goals since 2022
The Trojans scored six or more goals in each quarter
USC held McKendree scoreless for over eight minutes in the first half.

Scoring: Reed Hanna (4), Tyler Anderson (3), Nate Simoncelli (3), Camden Kocur (3), Breydon Congo (3), Robert López Duart (2), Marc Angelescu (2), Adrian Senciac (2), Chase Landa (2), Ben Mirisch (1), Apostolos Georgaras (1), Taj Whitehead (1), Ante Jerkovic (1), Strahinja Krstic (1), Efe Naipoglu (1)

Saves: Nemo Pavoggi (11), Charles Mills (3)

#2 USC 28, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9
The No. 2 USC Trojans perfect start to the season continued as they took down Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 28-9 at the Triton Invitational. The Trojans have won all three games in dominant fashion to kick off the 2026 campaign.

Facing the defending Division III National Champions, USC didn't give CMS any room to breathe, jumping out to a 6-1 lead to open the game with Robert Lopez Duart scoring a hat trick in the first eight minutes. He repeated the feat with another three-piece in the second quarter as the Trojans roared to a 14-3 lead at half time.

USC's offense continued to fire on all cylinders in the second half. Strahinja Krstic scored five second half goals as the Trojans put home seven in both the third and fourth quarters to earn the decisive 28-9 victory.

It was the stars who led the way USC as the All-Americans Lopez Duart and Krstic each turned in outstanding efforts. Lopez Duart scored a career high seven goals, two shy of the all-time USC single game record, while Krstic claimed a career high of his own with six goals.

Fellow All-American Apostolos Geogaras scored four goals of his own and Efe Naipoglu added a hat trick.

Notables

Apostolos Georgaras tallied his first hat trick as a Trojan and had four total in the game.
Robert Lopez Duart set a new USC career high with seven goals and moved into the top 20 of all-time USC scoring with 142 goals.
Strahinja Krstic set a new career high six goals.
This marks the third straight game USC has scored 20 or more goals to open the 2026 season.
Robert Lopez Duart and Strahinja Krstic become the first Trojan teammates to each score six or more goals in a game since Tony Nardelli and Max Miller (Nov. 18, 2022 versus Austin College).
USC has scored 58 goals over the past two games which is tied for the most for a two-game span in team history (2015, 30 versus Whittier, 28 versus Chapman).
USC moves to 19-0 all-time against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Scoring: Robert López Duart (7), Strahinja Krstic (6), Apostolos Georgaras (4), Efe Naipoglu (3), Ante Jerkovic (2), Gavin Conant (1), Camden Kocur (1), Luke Nelson (1), Tyler Anderson (1), Chase Landa (1), Marc Angelescu (1)

Saves: Charlie Mills (3), Luke Harris (1)

Up Next
The Trojans will wrap up play at the Triton Invitational on Sunday afternoon with a ranked matchup. USC is set to face No. 15 UC Santa Barbara tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. as the Trojans look to move to 4-0 on the year.