No. 1 USC Men’s Water Polo Gears Up for NCAA Tournament

Friday, December 5

Stanford, Calif.

12 p.m.

USC

Concordia-Irvine

Robert López Duart surveys the pool with the ball in a game vs. Stanford

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 1 USC Men’s Water Polo Gears Up for NCAA Tournament

December 04, 2025 | Men's Water Polo

Game Notes

LOS ANGELES - After a stellar regular season and a fourth straight MPSF title, No. 1 USC (21-3, 4-2 MPSF) enters the NCAA Tournament hunting their 11th National Championship. The Trojans will start the tournament Friday (Dec. 5) against 8 seed Concordia-Irvine (21-12), the champions of the WWPA who are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The 8-team, single elimination tournament kicks off Friday with the quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals on Saturday and the NCAA Championship game on Sunday. USC last won the National Championship in 2018 and have finished runner up in four of the last five seasons. The NCAA Tournament will take place at the Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

THIS WEEK

First Round of NCAA Tournament • Friday, Dec. 5 • 12pm PT

No. 1 USC (21-3, 4-2) will begin the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon against Concordia-Irvine. Semifinal play will be on Saturday, before the tournament concludes Sunday with the championship.

Avery Aquatic Center • Palo Alto, Calif.

SERIES RECORD: 10 National Championships

LAST YEAR: National Runner-Up

STREAM: NCAA.com

OPENING SPRINT (TL;DR)

USC is led by seventh-year head coach Marko Pintaric. Overall, Pintaric is 121-41(.747) as the Trojans' head coach. He is also 82-9 as head coach of USC's women's team and led the Women of Troy to the 2021 NCAA title.

The Trojans are ranked No. 1 in the Dec. 3 CWPA Coaches Poll.

USC is 6-1 in home water at Uytengsu Aquatics Center

USC has outscored opponents 369-237 in 24 games.

Eight Trojans have scored 20-plus goals this season led by 61 from Robert López Duart. Mihailo Vukazic (48), Strahinja Krstic (46), Jack Martin (34), Efe Naipoglu (30), Andrej Grgurevic (27), Stefan Brankovic (26) and Jack Vort (21) follow. López Duart has scored at least one goal in all 24 of USC's contests.

USC goalies have combined to allow just 237 goals and have produced 9.84 saves per game.

Freshman Strahinja Krstic was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, the conference announced. Krstic was third in the regular season for USC with 39 goals, scoring in all but two games. He also was second in all of the MPSF in exlcusions drawn.

Seven Trojans were named to All-MPSF teams with Mihailo Vukazic and Andrej Grgurevic taking home All-MPSF first team honors. Robert López Duart, Strahinja Krstic and Stefan Brankovic were named to the All-MPSF second team while Jack Martin and Charlie Mills were All-MPSF honorable mentions.

POLL POSITION | USC started 2025 ranked No. 2 in the national preseason poll and was picked second in the MPSF Coaches Poll. The Trojans are No. 1 in the Dec. 3 CWPA poll.

LAST TIME OUT | USC won their fourth straight MPSF conference title taking down No. 1 UCLA in the MPSF Championship game. The Trojans started fast, scoring the first two goals of the game and led 4-2 after the first quarter. USC's offense exploded in the second quarter, scoring four straight goals and took a 10-5 lead into the break. The game tightened up in the second half as the Bruins cut the lead to two late in the fourth quarter, but the Trojan defense stood tall to secure the 14-11 victory and conference championship. Robert López Duart led the way offensively for USC, scoring four goals. Strahinja Krstic, Jack Martin and Efe Naipoglu chipped in with two goals apiece and Mihailo Vukazic paced the team with four assists. Charlie Mills went wire to wire in the cage, racking up 12 saves. Mills was named MPSF Tournament MVP and was named to the All-MPSF Tournament Team alongside López Duart, Krstic and Stefan Brankovic.

BY THE NUMBERS | Through 24 games, Robert López Duart leads USC's scoring with 61 goals. He has struck at least once in every game with multiple goals in a team-best 16 games. Newcomer Mihailo Vukazic has scored at least one goal in 21 games in his first season as a Trojan with 12 multi-goal games and 48 goals to date. On the setup side, Stefan Brankovic leads the team with 47 assists and is third on the team with 74 points. On defense, three goalies have seen time in the cage. Redshirt sophomore Charlie Mills has capped up in 20 games, redshirt junior Bernardo Herzer in 13 and redshirt freshman Nemo Pavoggi with two appearances. The goalkeeping corps has combined for an average of 9.84 saves per game. As a team, USC has outscored its opponents 369-240 for an average of 15.38 goals per game offensively and a 10 goals-against average.