No. 1 USC Men’s Water Polo Dominates Fordham To Move Into NCAA Championship Game

Saturday, December 6

Stanford, Calif.

2 p.m.

USC

23-3

Fordham

26-4

Fordham University

USC (M)

No. 1 USC Men’s Water Polo Dominates Fordham To Move Into NCAA Championship Game

December 06, 2025 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

PALO ALTO, Calif. - The No. 1 USC Men's Water Polo team used a potent attack and suffocating defense to move past four-seed Fordham in the NCAA Semifinals 16-7. The victory means the Trojans will play for the NCAA Championship for the 19th time in the past 21 seasons.

In a rematch of last year's NCAA semifinal in which USC won 18-16 in overtime, USC scored first with a Robert Lopez Duart strike before Fordham tied the game 1-1 with 4:14 left in the first quarter. From that moment, the Rams wouldn't score for over nine minutes as the Trojan lead ballooned to 6-1 with 3:13 to go in the first half. The teams would trade goals to close the half as USC led 8-3 at the break.

In the second half, it was more of the same story as the USC defense swarmed Fordham nearly every time they got scoring opportunities. The Rams were shut out for the first 7:55 of the third quarter as the Trojans scored the first five goals of the half to put the game out of reach and cruise to the 16-7 victory.

Lopez Duart, the Trojans leading scorer on the season, led the way with a hat trick. Luke Nelson, Strahinja Krstic and Mihailo Vukazic added two goals each and Efe Naipoglu paced the Trojans with four assists. The Trojans totaled 11 different goal scorers across their 16 goals.

Charlie Mills went wire to wire in the cage, racking up nine saves. The Trojan defense racked up 10 steals, led by three from Evan Ausmus, and added four field blocks. Fordham came into the game averaging 19 goals a game and hadn't been held under nine prior to today.

Up next for USC will be the NCAA Championship Game against the winner of No. 2 UCLA or No. 3 Stanford. The Trojans have gone 3-0 against the Cardinal this season and 2-1 against the Bruins, including a win in the MPSF Championship game. The National Championship will take place Sunday (Dec. 6) at 3p.m. and will be live on ESPNU.