No. 2 USC faces first real test against No. 10 Pepperdine


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Alexander Lansill, No. 4, is pictured with the ball looking to pass to a teammate. Opposing players defend in front of him.
Men’s water polo has started its season in sweeping fashion with a win over La Verne in the team’s first regular season game. (Andrew Kerner | Daily Trojan)

After dominant wins last weekend, No. 2 USC will face No. 10 Pepperdine Saturday. The Trojans will also participate in the Inland Empire Classic in Claremont Sunday.

The Trojans had high expectations heading into this season after reaching the NCAA championship last year and being ranked No. 2  in the preseason poll. They opened up their season last Saturday with an exhibition match against West Valley College, winning the game 27-9. The official season-opener occurred later that day against La Verne, where the Trojans saw 14 different players get on the scoresheet in a 28-5 win. 

Since 1979, USC has faced Pepperdine 88 times, with a record of 66-20-2 against the Waves. The two teams clashed earlier this year, as the Trojans earned a 13-7 win at Uytengsu. So far, Pepperdine holds a 3-1 record with wins against California Baptist, Biola and Occidental, with their lone loss coming at the hands of No. 8 UCSD. 

“It’s going to be very exciting to see how we will integrate everybody because we did play last season and made it to the NCAA final without many of our key players,” head coach Marko Pintaric said. “We will see how [those] key players will be integrated starting tomorrow.”

The Trojans will face Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the Inland Empire Classic — the two teams holding a combined record of 2-6 after their first few games. USC has only played Occidental three other times in its history, winning all three meetings. The Trojans have a more familiarity with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and are 16-0 in their history against the Stags. 

The Trojans have been able to keep together the majority of the team from last year, with only two players leaving from the previous season’s NCAA tournament roster. Seniors like driver Jacob Mercep, utility Alexander Lansill, goalkeeper Nic Porter and 2-meter Jake Ehrhardt will guide the rest of the team with their experience. 

“There’s a lot of leaders on this team right now and coming from last season we learned so much,” Ehrhardt said. “In that final loss we learned how much we needed to prepare more, and, going from that season, we’ve really tried to implement our new guys even quicker than last season, so they’re going to be a much bigger part of this team.” 

Porter, one of the vocal leaders on the team, had a great showing last week, saving seven shots in two periods of action. He has the ninth-most career saves in USC history and will look to continue his dominant play in goal for the rest of the season. 

It’s very important for our team chemistry to have so many familiar faces,” Porter said. “We all know each other’s game really well, and I think that’s something we can use to our advantage throughout the season.”

USC’s ambition for this season is to make a title run, which it last accomplished in 2018. 

“We’re gonna have a team that really knows what they want early on, and we’re gonna see that this weekend,” Ehrhardt said.

The Trojans play Pepperdine at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, respectively.