Following a 13-12 upset win over then-No.1 UCLA, USC men’s water polo will return home this weekend with hopes to defend its newly-acquired No. 1 ranking against two top-four conference opponents. 

The Trojans (15-2, 2-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will take on No. 4 UC Berkeley (14-3, 1-2) on Saturday and No. 3 Stanford (12-4, 1-2) on Sunday at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. 

While USC has beaten Stanford twice and lost to Cal twice, all of the opponents in the powerhouse MPSF West division — home to the top-four-ranked teams in the country — are threats and have traded blows with each other all season.

With only four games remaining in the regular season, USC will look to maintain its strong play and build momentum heading into the MPSF tournament.

Trojans seek revenge against Cal

The first test the Trojans will face in their quest to defend their first No. 1 ranking of the season is taking on the talented Golden Bears, who have handed USC both of its losses this season, on Saturday. The Trojans have fallen to Cal 13-11 twice this year — during conference play Oct. 5 and at the 2025 Overnght MPSF Invitational on Sept. 20.

Berkeley, having lost only  to Stanford and UCLA (18-1, 2-1 MPSF) this season, is coming off a dominant 25-10 win over the United States Air Force Academy (17-12, 0-4 West Coast Conference) and a hard-fought 15-14 win over No. 5 Fordham University (15-3, 6-0 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference),

If the Trojans want to emerge from Saturday’s matchup victorious, they will need to contain Berkeley’s explosive offense, which averages an impressive 16.5 goals per game, beating the Trojans’ average of 15.2.

The Bears’ high-powered offense is led by freshman attacker Beso Akhvlediani with a team-high 43 goals. He scored four goals against the Trojans during their first matchup and added one more goal in their most recent meeting.

Akhvlediani isn’t Berkeley’s only weapon, however, as he has a strong supporting cast around him. Junior center Chase Wilson has recorded 29 goals on the season, including one in each of the Bears’ three conference games. Sophomore utility Patrik Kolak has also been a key piece of their balanced offensive success, with a team-high 22 assists to go along with 17 goals.

The Bears have struggled in lower-scoring and defensively dominant matchups this season — including an 11-9 loss to UCLA and a 12-8 loss to Stanford. The pressure will be on USC’s defense Saturday to hold the Bears’ attackers to a lower-scoring game.

USC looks to halt Stanford hot streak

The Trojans will see another familiar, high-powered offense in Sunday’s game against the Stanford Cardinal. USC topped Stanford 14-10 on Oct. 4 and squeaked out an overtime 14-12 win Sept. 21.

But the Cardinal is currently on a four-game winning streak, all over top-ten teams — including No. 10 Long Beach State (13-8, 3-0 Big West Conference), Berkley, Fordham and No. 6 UC Davis (11-10, 3-0).

Stanford’s offense has scored at least 18 goals in three of the four games, led primarily by sophomore attacker Botond Balogh, sophomore driver Ben Forer and redshirt senior attacker Gianpiero Di Martire.

Balogh and Forer rank second and third, respectively, in the MPSF in total points — trailing only UCLA sophomore attacker Ryder Dodd. Di Martire is not far behind, slotting into the tenth-place ranking. Together, the trio has scored 133 goals and recorded 81 assists on the season. 

In the Cardinal’s most recent game against Fordham, the trio of Balogh, Forer and Di Martire combined for 13 of the team’s 19 goals. Balogh led the way with five goals, while Forer and Di Martire scored four each. Most of Stanford’s offensive production comes from that trio, so the Trojan defense will need to find a way to shut down the group to win Sunday’s game.

USC’s top options on offense to counter Stanford’s top-heavy scoring are junior driver Robert López Duart and senior driver Mihailo Vukazic, who lead the Trojan squad with 44 and 40 goals, respectively. In Saturday’s UCLA win, Vukazic scored three goals and López Duart added two more to the team’s tally. Junior utility Stefan Brankovic, who leads the team with 32 assists this season, can also be a spark for the Trojans’ offense.

The Trojans will face the Bears at 1 p.m. Saturday and the Cardinal at 1 p.m. Sunday. Both games will take place at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.