No. 2 USC Opens Overnght MPSF Invitational With Win Over CBU

Friday, September 18

Stanford, Calif.

2:00 p.m.

USC

8-0

California Baptist University

9-2

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Cal Baptist Men 2026	1	3	5	4	13
USC (M)	5	6	3	3	17

Photo by: Ellen Levy

No. 2 USC Opens Overnght MPSF Invitational With Win Over CBU

September 18, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 2 USC men's water polo team opened the weekend at the Overnght MPSF Invitational on Friday afternoon with a matchup against No. 16 California Baptist University. The Trojan offense was the highlight once again as USC claimed a 17-13 victory over the Lancers.

#2 USC 17, #16 California Baptist University 13
From the opening whistle, USC was off and running. Strahinja Krstic scored the first goal of the game after earning the exclusion to get the Trojans on the board. Apostolos Georgaras added a bar down goal to the stat sheet before Krstic fired another one home for an early 3-0 lead.

The two teams traded goals before Luke Nelson scored his first goal of the game.

With just 1:39 left in the first, CBU found the back of the cage for their first goal of the day, however Taj Whitehead responded to put the Trojans back up by four to close out the frame.

The Lancers opened up the second quarter with a power play goal but once again USC had an answer. Marc Angelescu scored a power play tally of his own as the Trojans scored three straight to go up 8-2.

CBU registered back to back goals but a second quarter hat trick from Robert López Duart kept the advantage in USC's favor with an 11-4 lead at the half.

Although the Lancers worked to get back in the second half of the game, USC held onto its lead with three goals in both the third and fourth quarter to close out a 17-13 victory.

Scoring: Gavin Conant (3), Robert López Duart (3), Strahinja Krstic (3), Apostolos Georgaras (2), Luke Nelson (2), Breydon Congo (1), Efe Naipoglu (1), Marc Angelescu (1), Taj Whitehead (1)

Saves: Charles Mills (7), Luke Harris (4)

Notables

USC scored the first three goals of the game and only allowed California Baptist University to attempt one shot in that time frame.
Strahinja Krstic and Tyler Anderson combined for 12 drawn exclusions in the contest. Anderson matched his career high with seven on the day.
Strahinja Krstic and Efe Naipoglu each put up a team high four points on the day.
Robert López Duart recorded his eighth straight multi-goal game to open the season.
Strahinja Krstic has scored a hat trick in seven of eight games.
The USC defense tallied four field blocks, with Apostolos Georgaras, Robert López Duart, Efe Naipoglu and Nate Simoncelli recording one apiece.
The Trojans led wire-to-wire for the seventh straight contest.
Nine different players found the back of the cage with five players registering multi-goal outings.
USC kept CBU off the board for the first six-plus minutes of the game.
The victory marks the Trojan's sixth ranked win of the season.

Up Next
USC will face No. 11 San Jose State in the second round of the Overnght MPSF Invitational with a spot in the semifinals on the line. The game is set for 10:40 a.m. Saturday morning.