For the past four years, men’s water polo has started each season with four games at the annual Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego. With the way those four years have gone, however, they might need to consider renaming it to the “Trojan Invitational.”

No. 2 USC (4-0) continued its typical dominance of the Triton Invitational over the weekend, coming out of La Jolla undefeated for the third-straight season. The Trojans were hardly fazed by a difficult lineup featuring three top-15 teams, outscoring their opponents 69-39.

“This tournament was not easy. We played ranked opponents every consecutive day,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “The team held their composure and really performed … well enough to secure four victories.”

‘It’s a great start’

The Trojans kicked off their weekend on Friday with a 10-7 wire-to-wire win over the invitational’s host, No. 12 UC San Diego (3-3). Despite the opener being the Trojans’ closest bout of the tournament, USC was on top the entire game, maintaining a lead of at least two points after a late first-quarter goal put them up 3-1.

Junior utility Stefan Branković opened the scoring with a goal less than two minutes into the game and added two more in the second quarter to secure his third career hat trick. Freshman driver Gavin Conant and senior driver Mihailo Vukazić both picked up the first goals of their Trojan careers against the Tritons.

With the win, the Trojans are now 36-2 all-time against UC San Diego, with their last loss to the Tritons coming in 2001. The victory also extended USC’s season-opener winning streak to 31 years, a run dating back to 1995.

“We always approach every game one game at a time; that’s our attitude,” Pintaric said. “Anytime you win, of course, team morale is great, and it’s a great start [to] a season.”

Hot starts lead Trojans to doubleheader win

USC carried its momentum from the opener into a doubleheader on Saturday, cruising to wins against both George Washington University (2-4) and No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (3-3).

The Trojans’ first-ever matchup against George Washington featured an offensive explosion, with 12 different players scoring, including six with multiple goals. USC started the game with a 6-0 run in the first quarter and didn’t look back en route to a 23-9 blowout.

Redshirt senior 2-meter Jack Martin led the charge with four goals, tied for the second-most of his collegiate career. Freshmen 2-meters Strahinja Krstić and Reed Hanna each notched three goals, including the firsts of their collegiate careers, and junior driver Zach Bettino earned a hat trick of his own.

The Trojans kept their foot on the gas against UC Santa Barbara, bringing home a 16-10 win for a total of 39 goals on the day. Teamwork was the name of the game — USC picked up 10 assists to the Gauchos’ zero.

The matchup was defined by a series of scoring streaks: USC started the game on a 6-1 run, only for UC Santa Barbara to respond with a 4-0 run of its own. With just over 10 minutes to play, the game was neck-and-neck at 9-8, but the Trojans closed the door on the Gauchos with a 7-2 run to secure the win.

“Our team is really working hard … [to] always put up the perfect game,” Pintaric said. “Obviously, they were not happy with their total on the tournament, especially in defense; our team usually doesn’t give up this many goals.”

Freshman driver Efe Naipoglu had a game to remember, picking up three goals and three assists after scoring his first career goal against George Washington earlier that day. Krstić and junior driver Robert López Duart shone as well, each recording four goals.

If the Trojans were tired heading into their fourth game in 48 hours, they certainly didn’t show it, continuing their offensive dominance in a 20-13 win over No. 10 San Jose State to close out the weekend. USC remained undefeated all-time against the Spartans, improving to 12-0.

The opening minutes of the game were a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading goals and finding themselves tied 6-6 midway through the second quarter. However, a 4-0 run gave the Trojans the momentum they needed, allowing them to double the Spartans’ score the rest of the way.

López Duart and Branković finished off their spectacular weekends by scoring four goals apiece, with Branković adding four assists for a total of eight points — the most of any Trojan in a game all weekend. Krstić didn’t add to his seven goals from Saturday, but created plenty of scoring opportunities for the Trojans by drawing eight exclusions.

Trojans old and new lead the way

Despite USC’s history of success in La Jolla, Pintaric said he doesn’t think the invitational’s environment has any impact on winning, instead giving credit to the players themselves.

“I [attribute the wins to] this team’s willingness,” Pintaric said. “We are preparing for every opponent the same way … same as any other tournament.”

Many of the team’s returning players were vital to securing an undefeated weekend. López Duart, who paced the 2024 squad with 64 goals, scored multiple goals in all four games to lead the team with 12. Branković accumulated eight goals and seven assists, the latter of which tied with senior utility Andrej Grgurevic for the most on the team.

On the goalkeeping end, redshirt junior Bernardo Herzer and redshirt sophomore Charles Mills switched off holding down the fort for the Trojans, each spending more than 50 minutes in front of the net across the four games. Both goalies notched 20 saves during the weekend, though Herzer proved to be more efficient with only 14 goals allowed to Mills’ 25.

In addition to the mainstays, however, several of Pintaric’s new players showed out in their USC debuts. Five different newcomers scored at least three goals, headlined by Krstić and Vukazić with seven each. Conant and Vukazić both scored in all four games, joined by López Duart as the only Trojans to do so.

USC will return home Friday to take on No. 6 Long Beach State University at 5 p.m. and Golden West College at 6:30 p.m. at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.