USC is no stranger to pressure. After all, a fourth straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament title has earned the Trojans a 21st consecutive NCAA Championship berth. The eight championships they have won in that span have only cemented grand expectations for an already historically great program. 

However, the road back to the title has not been smooth for the Trojans in recent years. USC is still looking for its first NCAA title under Head Coach Marko Pintaric and its first since 2018. The Trojans have come close — being the runner-ups in four of the last five NCAA championships — but this year the No.1-seeded USC (21-3, 4-2 MPSF) will look to finally overcome the challenge. 

The Trojans will begin tournament play Friday with a game they will almost assuredly win against Concordia University Irvine (21-12, 5-1 Western Water Polo Association). However, the route to a win will likely need to go through top MPSF foes like No. 2 seed UCLA (24-2, 5-1 MPSF), who beat USC in the final in 2020 and 2024, or No. 3 seed Stanford (17-7, 2-4 MPSF).

Stars shine at MPSF tournament

USC’s success will depend on the star players that led it to the MPSF tournament title. Junior driver Robert López Duart led the Trojans with a four-goal game against UCLA on Nov. 23 to win the MPSF tournament. López Duart has been a constant for the Trojans this season, scoring in every game and leading USC with 61 goals this season.

Freshman 2-meter Strahinja Krstić, who was recently named the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, will look to cap off a stellar freshman year. Krstić scored seven goals over the three-game MPSF tournament to bring his season total to 46, third on the team. No team has been able to hold Krstić off the score sheet since San José State University (14-7, 5-1 West Coast Conference) on Aug. 31, giving him a 20-game goal streak. 

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Charles Mills was another standout for USC after starting in all three games of the MPSF tournament, having split time with redshirt junior goalie Bernardo Herzer through most of the regular season. Mills’ 12-save effort in the tournament final helped the Trojans maintain an early lead that led them to the win. 

Junior utility Stefan Brankovic leads USC with 47 assists and is third on the team in points with 74. Brankovic was key to the Trojans’ success in the MPSF tournament semifinal game against Stanford on Nov. 22, as he also showed off his scoring prowess with his third hat trick of the year. 

USC’s second-highest goal-scorer with 48 goals, senior driver Mihailo Vukazic, has been a valuable addition in his first season with the Trojans, adding 79 points and 18 steals. Vukazic, who earned All-MPSF first team honors, had a quieter weekend than usual in the MPSF tournament, only scoring two goals and adding six assists to his tally across three games.

However, Vukazic does not usually go long without standout performances. While he has been held to one goal or less 12 times this season, he has the same amount of games with two goals or more. After four straight games with one goal or less, the NCAA tournament could present the opportunity to unlock Vukazic’s usual goal scoring. 

The road ahead

The Trojans have never lost to Concordia, their first-round opponents, coming in on a 12-game winning streak in the matchup that extends back to 2010. The last time the two faced each other was in 2022 when USC handed the Golden Eagles a crushing 24-0 defeat. 

Concordia faces an uphill battle against the Trojans in their first tournament appearance. The Golden Eagles did not beat a ranked team the whole season, with seven of their 12 losses coming against ranked teams. However, the Eagles sport a group of high-volume goalscorers, led by freshman attacker Dimitrios Koritsas, who has 70 goals and 109 points on the season.

After the Trojans likely make it past Concordia, they will face the winner of the match between the No. 4 seed Fordham University (25-3, 12-0 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference) and No. 5 seed San José State on Saturday.

The Trojans dispatched San José State on Aug. 31 in a 20-13 regular-season tilt. USC and Fordham haven’t met often, but the Trojans have the upper hand with a 2-0 all-time record. The last meeting between the two was an NCAA championship semifinal match in 2024, where the Trojans came out on top in a 18-16 overtime win. 

If USC makes it back to the championship final, it may well be on its way to a rematch against UCLA. On the other side of the bracket, UCLA will have to dispatch Princeton University (23-9, 9-1 Northeast Water Polo Conference), which it previously did in a 23-10 bout in the regular season. Then, the Bruins will likely face the third-seeded Stanford, which they have beaten three times this year. 

If there is another USC and UCLA final, the Bruins will be looking for redemption after being outplayed in the MPSF final. Meanwhile, the Trojans will hope for a different outcome this year after losing to UCLA in the final in a 11-8 match last year. 

The Trojans begin their road to the title against Concordia on Friday at Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford at noon.