The USC men’s water polo team played its last home game of the season against No. 10 UC Davis Saturday. The team came off a loss against No. 1 UCLA on Oct. 19 and looked to build momentum for the rest of the season. 

Late in the second quarter, fifth-year driver Carson Kranz tossed a no-look entry pass into center to draw an exclusion and then buried a 6-on-5 goal to put the Trojans (16-3, 1-3 Big Ten up 9-5.

Kranz is a veteran playing his last home game at USC before a stint on the road to close out the regular season. 

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“I’ve been doing those kinds of passes for years and years so it’s almost like second nature. I think it just throws the defense off a little bit, but not always,” Kranz said about the pass. 

The play demonstrated how the game went for USC. The team looked more skilled and more polished than its UC Davis (10-10, 3-0 Big West) counterparts for the most part. A 3-goal rally in the third quarter brought the Aggies within 1 point and made it seem like the Trojans would have to fight off an upset, but Head Coach Marko Pintaric had a different view on what was going on.

“It changed completely,” Pintaric said. “We were trying something new, and obviously, when you try something new, not everything clicks, but it was great getting to try that, to evaluate and make conclusions.”

Pintaric said the team went back to their original system after the Aggies started making it close. 

Going back to what made them successful early is exactly what the Trojans did as they outscored the Aggies 9-2 to finish out the game and won with a final score of 18-10. What at times could have seemed like a shaky performance was a strong victory where the team got to prepare themselves for the road ahead. 

Pintaric called it a “comfortable win against a respectable opponent.” A comfortable win and a statement win as USC handedly beat a team that took UCLA to overtime less than a week before. 

The Trojans improved to 16-3 overall on the season as they got to celebrate their victory with an alumni game and a senior photo in their last home contest of the season. 

“It’s fun because we can reconnect with a lot of the guys that we’ve either played with or guys that we’ve heard about,” Kranz said. “This program has a lot of rich history to it. … It’s a good way to reconnect with the culture and the guys that laid the work before you.”

The team gets a fun Saturday afternoon to celebrate the end of its official regular season play, but its focus will quickly be on executing as it comes time to fight for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and NCAA title to end the season. 

“We got 43 days. March is coming quick. We are very confident,” Kranz said about the remainder of the season. “Now we’re gonna look at next weekend first, and then pick up two big wins, finish out the rest of our season and head for MPSF conference and then we’re gonna go to the big dance.”

The team has much to be excited about and plenty to prepare for as it prepares to play No. 3 Stanford next Saturday to warm up for a long playoff run.