No. 3 USC men’s water polo took its first loss of the year against No. 1 UCLA in the final of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational at UC Berkeley Sunday. Early exclusions against USC star 2-meter Max Miller handicapped the team early, forcing Head Coach Marko Pintaric to substitute Miller in the first half to avoid a third exclusion and ejection from the game. 

“Miller is our best player at his position, and getting those early exclusions put us in a position where we had to make unorthodox rotations,” Pintaric said in an interview with the Daily Trojan after the loss.  

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The second quarter was the defining part of the game. USC dropped back on defense to help their center, and UCLA’s perimeter shooters took advantage repeatedly, going on a 5-1 run. The Bruin defense was also able to hold star transfer sophomore driver Robert López Duart to one goal after the game was already out of reach.

Lóopez Duart had been crucial earlier in the weekend, coming off a five-goal performance with multiple electric finishes, but he could not find the same opportunities to shoot against UCLA’s strong defense. 

The two teams traded blows back and forth, and Miller scored with 4:02 left on the clock to bring the Trojans within two goals. However, the deficit was too much to overcome for Pintaric’s squad, and the formidable Bruins took home a 9-12 victory.

The Trojans only lost one game, but the weekend did have some other difficult moments. USC got down early to both No. 10 Long Beach State and No. 2 Stanford in its second and third matchups. Pintaric was clear about what USC needs to address to avoid this in the future.

“Defensively, we could be better, but defense is what got us back in the games, including the last match and to actually win the games,” Pintaric said. “We went down, but I’m proud of the way we responded.”

And responding is exactly what USC did against Stanford and Long Beach State. Both games saw many Trojans sinking gloomily under the water, down multiple goals late only to be pumping their fists and splashing at each other as they secured two huge overtime wins. 

While USC has beaten Long Beach State previously, the win against Stanford meant a win against the second-best team in the nation, who at the time had a 10-0 record to start the season. The win over the Cardinals means the Trojans’ place at No. 3 in the nation should hold or improve going into the next set of rankings Wednesday for week three.

“It’s disappointing that we lost in the finals … but they handled themselves well, especially yesterday coming from behind, winning two matches,” Pintaric said. “This is the hardest tournament we’re going to play. Considering the progress the guys have made from the first tournament in San Diego to the second weekend, I thought it was very good.”

The Trojans clearly have some things to improve on if they want to win an 11th national championship, but despite the loss to UCLA, they should be confident in their ability to take care of business against lower-ranked teams. 

USC’s spirits and sights remain high and in true USC student-athlete fashion, they were seen smiling and laughing, riding their bikes across Jefferson after their flight home Sunday night. 

The Trojans will be back in action Friday against California Baptist at Uytengsu Aquatics Center before a week-long break ahead of the start of MPSF regular season play.