The No. 2 ranked USC men’s water polo team has an opportunity for revenge this Saturday against No. 1 ranked UC Berkeley, after losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Golden Bears in each of the past two National Championship games. The Trojans have another top-ten matchup this weekend as well, taking on No. 8 ranked UC Irvine Sunday.

After falling 13-12 in both 2021 and 2022, USC will look to heal some of its wounds against the Golden Bears this weekend.

“These games are why you come and play for a university like USC,” said Trojans Head Coach Marko Pintaric in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[The game will be] No. 1 versus No. 2 in the preseason rankings, and we can expect nothing more than a great battle.”

“Everyone’s going to be fired up to play. Beat those guys, especially in our pool,” said senior 2-meter Tony Nardelli in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “One of our goals this season is to be undefeated at home, so we’re going to go out there with that revenge mentality and just absolutely destroy them.”

USC got off to a red-hot start this season, going undefeated in last weekend’s Triton Invitational. The Trojans went 4-0, with two close wins against No. 17 California Baptist and No. 11 UC San Diego, as well as dominant victories over Pomona-Pitzer and Biola.

After not playing an official game since the National Championship Dec. 4, the team was excited to be back in the pool.

“The feeling was awesome. We waited pretty much all offseason and the entire summer of training hard in order to come back and finally play,” Nardelli said. “We went in there with a strong mentality, and it was awesome to finally see what the team can do together.”

Both of this weekend’s opponents also competed in the Triton Invitational. UC Berkeley went 4-0 in the weekend tournament as well and beat Navy on Monday. UC Irvine went 2-2, falling to No. 6 Stanford and No. 3 UCLA.

Despite much of the anticipation of the weekend focused on UC Berkeley, Pintaric emphasized the importance of not discounting UC Irvine.

“We are preparing the exact same way; the way we prepare for Cal, we prepare for UCI,” Pintaric said. “We scouted UCI this weekend, as well as had some interactions with them over the summer. The big strength of this team and my coaching staff is that we don’t overlook any opponents and we will be prepared.”

Nardelli shared his mindset going into the weekend.

“It’s important to not overlook the game,” Nardelli said. “I think Cal’s going to be great preparation for that UCI game … but we gotta go one game at a time.”

USC will take on No. 1 UC Berkeley Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center and No. 8 UC Irvine Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Anteater Aquatics Complex.