No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Set To Open 2026 Season At Triton Invitational

Friday, August 28

La Jolla, Calif

5:30 p.m.

USC

Saint Mary's

Photo by: brycedechert

No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Set To Open 2026 Season At Triton Invitational

August 26, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

LOS ANGELES – The wait is finally over for the USC men's water polo team. The Trojans will open their 2026 campaign this weekend with a trip down to San Diego for the annual Triton Invitational. USC will play four games with two matchups against top-20 opponents.

Schedule
Friday – #2 USC (0-0) vs. #20 Saint Mary's (0-0) – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday – #2 USC (0-0) vs. McKendree (0-0) – 12:00 p.m.
Saturday – #2 USC (0-0) vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (0-0) – 5:20 p.m.
Sunday – #2 USC (0-0) vs. #15 UC Santa Barbara (0-0) – 1:20 p.m.

History
This will be the first ever meeting between USC and both Saint Mary's and McKendree. 2026 marks Saint Mary's inaugural season and the team was slotted at No. 20 in the CWPA Preseason Poll.

This will be the 19th all-time matchup between USC and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Trojans are a perfect 18-0 all time against the Stags. In their most recent contest, which took place in 2025, USC cruised to a 25-7 victory.

This will be the 97th all-time matchup between USC and UC Santa Barbara. The Trojans are 81-13-2 against the Gauchos and have won the last seven matchups. The two teams met twice in 2025 where the Trojans claimed 16-10 and 22-13 victories, respectively.

Rankings
USC opens the year ranked No. 2 in the national polls.

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.