After falling to No. 2 UC Berkeley at the MPSF Invitational for its first loss of the season last week, No. 3 USC men’s water polo bounced back over the weekend, picking up two hard-fought but convincing wins against No. 10 University of the Pacific and No. 8 UC Davis.

The Trojans (12-1) completed their challenging non-conference schedule in dominant fashion, outscoring the weekend’s opponents 33-16. Junior driver Robert López Duart and senior driver Mihailo Vukazic, who were recently named to the 2026 Cutino Award Watch List, continued their impressive seasons, scoring a combined 10 goals across the two matches. On Monday, Strahinja Krstić was announced as Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s Newcomer of the Week, after he scored three goals over the weekend. 

 “[There’s] still room for improvement, but a jump from last week definitely,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “I’m very, very pleased that we recorded … two wins against two tough opponents on the road.”

Strong second half propels victory over Pacific

USC started the weekend’s action with a Friday night game under the lights at Pacific (6-4). Although the Tigers challenged the Trojans early on, USC wound up with a decisive 14-7 win, driven by hat tricks from Lopez Duart and junior utility Luke Nelson.

The match started with two early goals from López Duart and Nelson to give the Trojans early momentum. However, the Tigers quickly responded with two power-play goals, evening up the score 2-2 at the end of the first quarter. The defensive battle continued into the second quarter, with both teams continuing to trade goals to make the match a 4-4 tie at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, something clicked for the USC offense. The Trojans dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Tigers 5-1 and shifting momentum entirely in their own direction; the fourth quarter was more of the same, with a 5-2 finish that sealed the 14-7 victory.

During USC’s second-half run, the Trojan offense played a patient and methodical game, using nearly all the time on the shot clock to force the ball into the center and get high-quality shots. On the other side of the pool, the defense pressed the Tigers heavily and forced low-percentage shots from distance, which redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Charles Mills stopped with ease.

“We did not care about the score. We just stuck with the game plan,” Pintaric said. “[There] was a better performance in defense. [Charles] Mills, again, had a very beautiful game.”

Mills recorded impressive stops throughout the game, tallying 13 saves in total and earning an elite 0.650 save percentage.

By the end of the game, López Duart had notched four goals, and Nelson was close behind with three. Although the team was lackluster on the power play — only 1-for-5 for the entire game — the Trojans controlled the pace of play at even strength in the second half and waited patiently for high-quality looks.

Trojans come out strong against Davis

The Trojans maintained a strong defensive effort in their second game of the weekend, only giving up nine goals in the team’s 19-9 rout against the Aggies (6-7) on Sunday.

USC jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening minutes and kept its foot on the gas all game, holding a 7-5 lead at halftime and never letting Davis get closer than a two-goal deficit.

Even though the Aggies’ defense limited López Duart to just two shots on goal, Vukazic and senior utility Andrej Grgurevic more than made up for his lack of production, contributing four goals apiece.

Junior utility Stefan Brankovic was also instrumental in USC’s dominant win, leading the team with four assists — including two at the start of the second half to put away any hopes of a Davis comeback. Brankovic recorded an assist in Friday’s game at Pacific as well, making him stand out as one of the weekend’s most impactful players.

“This game is not only about scoring goals, it’s about the whole game,” Pintaric said. “Out of all the players, Stefan Brankovic had the best combined two games, [despite] shooting only three balls and not scoring a single goal. But in terms of overall performance player-wise, he was the most efficient player.”

Mills continued to impress at the opposite side of the pool, saving eight shots while also recording two steals and an assist.

As the Trojans look ahead to conference play, Pintaric said he wants his players to focus on improving themselves week by week, focusing solely on the two upcoming games next weekend.

“They are trying to get better every day, 1% [per day],” Pintaric said. “We improve our individual gameplay, and that will contribute to team gameplay.”

The Trojans will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. as they travel north once again for a rematch against conference rival No. 4 Stanford (8-2).