No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Heads To Overnght MPSF Invitational

Friday, September 18

Stanford, Calif.

2:00 p.m.

USC

California Baptist University

Photo by: William Fosnot

No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Heads To Overnght MPSF Invitational

September 16, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

Overnght MPSF Invitational Central USCMWP Notebook (Sept. 16)

LOS ANGELES – The No. 2 USC Men's Water Polo will face their biggest test of the season thus far as they travel to Stanford, Calif. for the Overnght MPSF Invitational. The 16-team tournament will see USC matched up with California Baptist University Friday afternoon to kick off the weekend.

Schedule
Friday – #2 USC (7-0) vs. #16 California Baptist University – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday – #2 USC (7-0) vs. #7 Princeton OR #11 San José State – TBA
Saturday – #2 USC (7-0) vs. TBA
Sunday – #2 USC (7-0) vs. TBA

Tournament Teams & Seeding
1. UCLA
2. USC
3. Stanford
4. California
5. UC Davis
6. Long Beach State
7. Princeton
8. UC San Diego
9. Pepperdine
10. San José State
11. UC Santa Barbara
12. UC Irvine
13. Loyola Marymount
14. Santa Clara
15. California Baptist University
16. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

History
The Trojans took third at last year's Overnght MPSF Invitational, taking down Stanford in overtime in the third place match. USC last won the tournament in 2021 where they defeated California in the championship game.

USC is 17-0 all-time against CBU. The most recent matchup between the two squads was in the first round of the 2024 NCAA tournament which USC won 17-13.

USC is a perfect 10-0 all-time against Princeton. The two teams mostly recently matched up just one season ago, where the Trojans picked up a 15-13 victory over the Tigers at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

USC is 12-0 all-time against San Jose State. The Trojans and Spartans faced off on the final day of the 2025 Triton Invitational where USC claimed a 20-13 win.

Rankings
USC opened the year ranked No. 2 in the national polls. They remain in the No. 2 position in the Sept. 16 polls.

Last Time Out
The Trojans continued their undefeated start to the season, taking down No. 13 UC Irvine 24-15 at home. USC scored the first five goals of the game and cruised to a wire-to-wire victory. Robert López Duart led the way with four goals as the Trojans had twelve players get on the scoresheet.

Top 20 Victories
Through the first seven games of the 2026 season, USC has proven itself against strong competition, picking up wins over five ranked opponents including two against top-10 teams. The Trojans started off the season with a win over No. 20 Saint Mary's and No. 15 UC Santa Barbara at the Triton Invitational. The following weekend, USC took down No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 9 Pepperdine, before knocking off No. 13 UC Irvine on Saturday.

Hot Start
USC has gotten off to a blistering start to begin the 2026 campaign, winning their first seven games of the season for the third straight year. The Trojans fell behind for two minutes to begin the first game of the season and have not trailed since, winning six straight games wire-to-wire. This is in large part due to USC's outstanding first quarter play. They have outscored opponents 42-14 in the opening frame.

Offensive Outburst
The Trojan offense has put on a show thus far in 2026. USC has fired home 165 goals across the first six games, averaging 23.6 goals per game compared to just 10.4 for their opponents. They have scored at least 17 goals in every game and have scored 20 or more in five games.

USC scored 107 goals in the first four games of the season, the most over any four-game span in program history. It has been a balanced attack for the Trojans as every field player has gotten on the scoresheet, but it is USC's returning All-Americans who have shined brightest. Strahinja Krstic and Robert López Duart lead the team with 27 and 23 goals respectively. Krstic has scored at least a hat trick in all but one game. He set and then matched his career high of six goals against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Long Beach State. López Duart has scored multiple goals in every game and set his USC career high with a perfect 6-6 game from the field against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Efe Naipoglu and Apostolos Georgaras are next in scoring for the Trojans with 15 goals each with Luke Nelson rounding out the top-five with 11.

MPSF Weekly Awards
Efe Naipoglu picked up his first career MPSF Player of the Week (Sept. 7) award after an outstanding two games over the past weekend. The sophomore driver set his career high with five goals against No. 7 Long Beach State while also tying a career high with four assists. He followed this up with another two goals and three assists against No. 9 Pepperdine.

Robert López Duart was named the first MPSF Player of the Week (Aug. 31) as he led the Trojan offense to a perfect 4-0 weekend at the Triton Invitational. The senior driver went a perfect 3-3 and added two assists in the season opener to take down No. 20 Saint Mary's. He followed that up with an astounding six-for-six outing against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and tacked on two helpers for eight total points. In all four games, López Duart scored at least two or more goals, including three against No. 15 UCSB. López Duart finished the weekend 14-for-16 with five assists and four steals.

Tyler Anderson had a strong start to his collegiate campaign as he was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Week (Aug. 31). He turned in a 2-2 performance in his first ever game and racked up seven drawn exclusions against #20 Saint Mary's. The freshman out of Newport Beach, Calif. went 7-for-9 through the four games and drew a team high 12 exclusions.

The Duo At 2-Meter
USC's 2-meter pair of Strahinja Krstic and Tyler Anderson had high expectations coming into the season, and they have delivered. Krstic, coming off an outstanding freshman season in which he won the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, picked up right where he left off last season, scoring a team-high 27 goals over the first seven games. He scored at least three goals in all but one game and set his career high with six against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Anderson, a true freshman, opened his account with seven goals in the first four games, including a first quarter hat trick against McKendree. Additionally, both centers have drawn double digit exclusions, with Krstic at 21 and Anderson at 15. Anderson drew seven of those 12 in his first collegiate game Friday night against No. 20 Saint Mary's, the most for a Trojan since Krstic last season who drew nine Nov. 15 against UCLA.

Trojan Personnel
USC had five total All-Americans including two First Team All-America selections and three will be back in the Trojan lineup for 2026.

Cutino Award finalist Robert López Duart led USC in scoring for the second straight season and will look to be an offensive catalyst in his senior season. López Duart tallied 66 goals and had a team best 17 multiple-goal outings. A First Team All-America selection, López Duart added 27 assists, 23 steals and 11 blocks to the stat sheet in a strong 2025 campaign. The senior driver was also named to the NCAA All-Tournament First Team, MPSF All-Tournament Team and All-MPSF Second Team.

Charles Mills will be the main man in the cage for the second straight season. Mills took a big step forward in 2025 with 177 saves and .501 save percentage in goal. The redshirt junior was named the MPSF All-Tournament MVP thanks to 21 saves, two steals and two assists at the conference tournament. Mills was named to the All-America Third Team, the first All-America honors of his career. He also garnered All-MPSF Honorable Mention recognition and was the MPSF All-Tournament Team goalie.

The 2025 MPSF Newcomer of the Year Strahinja Krstic will help lead a daunting two-meter crew for the Trojans. Krstic drew a team high 65 exclusions and scored 49 goals. Krstic collected All-America Second Team honors as well as NCAA Tournament First Team, All-MPSF

Last Season
USC finished the 2025 campaign as the runner up at the NCAA Championships. The Trojans posted a 23-4 overall record, going 6-1 at home and 8-1 on the road. Of USC's 23 wins, 19 of them came against ranked opponents.

USC opened the season with nine straight wins including winning the Triton Invitational. The Trojans went 4-2 in regular season conference play and won their fourth straight MPSF tournament to earn the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.

USC reached the final of the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in the past six seasons and 19 of the past 21. The Trojans have qualified for the NCAA tournament in every season since 2005.

New Faces To Uytengsu
USC will welcome seven newcomers for the 2026 season. The group features three attackers, two center defenders, one utility and one center.

The lone incoming transfer was a big one for the Trojans. Apostolos Georgaras (Attacker/Patras, Greece) joins the squad following a strong freshman season at the University of the Pacific in which he was named a Third Team All-American and the WCC Freshman of the Year. Georgaras led the Tigers in goals (73) and total points (93).

Georgaras will be joined by six true freshmen – Tyler Anderson (Center/Newport Beach, Calif.), Marc Angelescu (Center Defender/Barcelona, Spain), Ante Jerković (Attacker/Dubrovnik, Croatia), Camden Kocur (Attacker/Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Adrian Senciac (Utility/Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Nathan Simoncelli (Center Defender/Corona Del Mar).

First Year Phenoms
This season, USC boasts three players who won conference Newcomer or Freshman of the Year awards. Strahinja Krstic, Apostolos Georgaras and Robert López Duart have each taken home the award throughout their respective careers. The Trojans are the only team in the country to have three such award winners on its roster.

Krstic was named the 2025 MPSF Newcomer of the Year after an outstanding freshman season at USC. He tallied 49 goals, which included a 22-game scoring streak, and led the Trojans with 65 drawn exclusions. He was also named to the All-American Second Team and earned NCAA Tournament First Team honors.

Apostolos Georgaras joins the Trojans fresh off being named the 2025 WCC Freshman of the Year after a stellar campaign at the University of Pacific. He led the team in goals (73), points (93) and steals (37) while also being named to the All-American Third Team and All-WCC First Team.

Before his two outstanding seasons at USC, Robert López Duart won the 2023 Big West Freshman of the year award while at Long Beach State. In that season, he was the team's top scorer with 87 goals, second most in a single-season in LBSU history, and led the team with 30 assists. That season, López Duart was also named to the All-American Second Team and the All-Big West First Team.

Comforts of Home
In 2025, the Trojans hosted just seven home games at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. USC went 6-1 in those contests and will look to capitalize on that success with 10 home matchups in 2026 in addition to hosting the MPSF Tournament.

This will be the first time the Trojans have hosted the MPSF Tournament since 2022, when the Trojans began their run of four consecutive conference championships.

International Experience
The 2026 Trojan squad was well represented across several national teams throughout the offseason.

Charles Mills, Luke Nelson, Gavin Conant and Tyler Anderson each suited up for the United States. Mills and Nelson competed in the World Cup Qualifiers. Mills then returned to the squad with Conant for the exhibition series against Montenegro.

Anderson was a member of the Youth National Team that helped the United States reach the title game at the World Aquatics Youth World Championship. The U.S. won silver in a historic run, marking the highest ever finish for Team USA at the event. Anderson was named the Best Player of the Tournament – the second consecutive year the award went to an incoming Trojan.

Ante Jerković (Croatia), Strahinja Krstic (Serbia) and Efe Naipoglu (Turkey) all competed at the U20 European Aquatics Championships to round out the slate. Jerkovic helped Croatia earn gold at the tournament. Krstic was named captain of the Serbian squad that placed sixth. Naipoglu racked up 33 goals in the tournament as was the top scorer of the event.