No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Earns Home Opener Win Over No. 9 Pepperdine

Sunday, September 6

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 p.m.

USC

6-0

Pepperdine

4-4

Team	1	2	3	4	OT	Final F
Pepperdine Men 2026	4	3	3	4		14
USC (M)	5	4	4	4	17

Photo by: William Fosnot

No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Earns Home Opener Win Over No. 9 Pepperdine

September 06, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - No. 2 USC Men's Water Polo fended off a challenge from No. 9 Pepperdine, winning 17-14 to continue their undefeated start to the season. It is the Trojans second top-10 win in the past three days.

#2 USC 17, #9 Pepperdine 14

Playing in home waters for the first time this season, USC started fast, scoring the first three goals of the game inside three minutes. Pepperdine responded to cut the lead to one as the score stood at 5-4 after the first quarter. Strahinja Krstic secured a first half hat trick as the Trojans took a 9-7 lead into the break.

USC's offense stayed hot in the second half, pulling ahead 13-8 with under two minutes in the third quarter. Pepperdine would not go away quietly, cutting the Trojan lead down to two late into the fourth quarter. Robert López Duart put home a penalty shot to put USC back up by three and cap off the 17-14 win.

Krstic and López Duart led USC scorers with three apiece. The duo has now combined for nine hat tricks in the Trojans' first six games. Efe Naipoglu, Apostolos Georgaras and Ante Jerkovic chipped in with two goals each. López Duart and Naipoglu each added three assists. Charles Mills went all 32 minutes in net, racking up nine saves and tying a career high with four steals.

Scoring: Strahinja Krstic (3), Robert López Duart (3), Efe Naipoglu (2), Apostolos Georgaras (2), Ante Jerkovic (2), Luke Nelson, Gavin Conant, Camden Kocur, Reed Hanna, Ben Mirisch

Saves: Charles Mills (9)

Notables:

Strahinja Krstic has scored at least three goals in five out of six games to open the 2026 season.
Robert López Duart extended his multi-goal game streak to six straight.
The Trojans racked up 12 steals in the contest with Mills matching his career high with four.
USC is now 72-20-2 all-time against Pepperdine, having won seven straight games.
The Trojans have started the season a perfect 6-0 for the third straight year.
USC has not trailed in five straight games
With the win over Pepperdine, the Trojans earned their fourth ranked win and second top-10 victory of the season.

Up Next
USC will be back at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center to host No. 13 UC Irvine on Saturday Sept. 12 at 1:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Overnght.com.