All-important battles between a few of the best collegiate water polo programs in the nation are set to take place Saturday and Sunday, as No. 2 USC is preparing to take on No. 6 UC Berkeley  and No. 3 Stanford over the weekend at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

The Trojans (11-1) are coming off a huge blowout win at home last Friday against No. 20 Cal Baptist (6-7), beating the Lancers 21 to 12. The Trojans matched a season-high with a total of 21 goals, scored by 13 different players. Sophomore utility Stefan Brankovic and redshirt freshman driver Chase Landa each scored three goals, with Brankovic matching his career-high and Landa setting a new career-high mark for goals scored in a single game in the victory.

Sixth-year Head Coach Marko Pintaric was extremely pleased with his team’s balanced performance at home last week.

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“Last week’s preparation was great,” Pintaric said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We really reconditioned and responded well, playing a little tired after CBU, who is actually [a] respected team as well.”

USC now turns its attention to this weekend’s conference opponents: Cal (8-4) and Stanford (11-1). The Bears dropped their last game in a disappointing loss to UC Irvine last Friday, while the Cardinals are on a three-game win streak and coming off a marquee triumph over No. 4 Pepperdine (11-2) on the road.

Pintaric is ensuring his squad takes both games seriously, not letting Cal’s bad run of form affect the Trojans’ mindset.

“They’re just going to be more fired up to play this weekend. They’re [a] very proud team … You really need to prepare for their individual players or shooters,” Pintaric said.

As USC prepares for action this weekend, Pinataric noted that practices have centered around ensuring that the Trojans are prepared for the unique challenges that the Bears and Cardinals pose, especially on the defensive end of the pool.

“Emphasis is always in defense, really, to adjust our defense to both opponents, Cal first, Stanford second,” Pintaric said. “And hopefully with our defense, we really get our confidence in our home court.”

Junior utility Andrej Grgurevic and sophomore driver Robert López Duart also understand the importance of this weekend’s games.

“If we get these two wins, this will put us in a perfect position for the rest of the season. So [we’re] really working hard to get those two wins,” Grgurevic said.

USC will play both Cal and Stanford twice this season, and every conference game it plays will be high stakes. The Trojans are looking to defend their last two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles, with the ultimate goal of winning the NCAA Championship. The Bears have not had an ideal start to their season, but they remain three-time defending national champions.

“The mindset is, ‘Win, win, win, win, win.’ Like, prepare to win, just win. Win is the word to describe everything,” López Duart said.

Cal’s offense is led by senior attacker Max Casabella, who has already scored 32 goals this season, while Stanford’s offense is led by redshirt senior Riley Pittman, who has already racked up 31 goals of his own.

“[Casabella] is one guy you do not want to get hot, so it’s going to be a big focus stopping him [and] shutting him down [against Cal]this weekend,” Grgurevic said. 

On offense, USC averages 16.4 goals per game and 33.5 shots per game. On defense, USC only allows 9.4 goals per game and 24.1 shots per game to opponents.

In comparison, Stanford averages 15.8 goals per game on offense and only allows 8.8 goals per game to opponents. Cal’s offense is much stronger, but the Bears have struggled on defense, averaging 17.5 goals per game and allowing 13 goals per game to opponents.

Undefeated at home so far this season, USC will look to continue its hot start to its 2024 campaign this weekend, taking on Cal at 1 p.m. Saturday and Stanford at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in their first MPSF games of the season.