The regular season will come to a close Saturday afternoon as No. 4 USC will face off against No. 1 UCLA. It will be the 149th matchup between the rivals, with the Trojans leading the all-time series 78-69-1. 

USC (12-5, 1-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is coming off arguably its biggest win of the season last Saturday. It took down No. 3 Stanford (14-6, 2-3) by a score of 10-6 to get its first conference victory. Sophomore utility Andrej Grgurevic scored a hat trick to lead the way offensively and redshirt freshman goalie Bernardo Herzer set a career-high with 15 saves. 

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For their efforts last weekend, both players picked up awards. Grgurevic won MPSF Player of the Week, making him the second Trojan to win this award this season along with senior 2-meter Max Miller. Herzer earned MPSF Newcomer of the Week, also becoming the second USC player to win such award this season, alongside freshman driver Zach Bettino. 

UCLA (22-0, 6-0) will come into Saturday’s matchup with an unblemished record. The Bruins have been dominating throughout most of the season, having outscored opponents 321-178. 

This will be the third time USC and UCLA square off this season. The first game, on Sep. 23, was a close affair, with UCLA winning 14-10. The teams played again on Oct. 14, and the result was much more lopsided. UCLA steamrolled the Trojans in an 11-2 victory.

“Last time when you analyze the game […] we never had our strongest unit in,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric, in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We always had a mix of younger players and older players […] We did lose the game but we did learn a lot.”

UCLA’s senior attacker Rafael Real Vergara has had USC’s number so far this season. He has a combined 10 goals and five assists in the two games against the Trojans. Vergara transferred to the Bruins this season after a decorated career at Long Beach State, where he scored 192 goals in three years, fourth in school history. He is UCLA’s leading scorer with 51 goals this season. 

“We’re gonna be right on top of him,“ said senior 2-meter Tony Nardelli. “We’re not gonna give him any breathing room and he’s not even gonna touch the ball.”

Saturday’s game will also serve as senior day for the Trojans. The school will honor Nardelli and graduate driver Massimo Di Martire, who played in Croatia and Italy respectively prior to coming to USC. 

“I came here less than two years ago,” Di Martire said. “My first time here was in June 2022, and I feel like sometimes I’m still getting used to this atmosphere and environment. It’s kind of incredible and unbelievable that I’m almost done.“

Pintaric, who is in his fifth year as the USC head coach, reflected on his time coaching Di Martire and Nardelli.

“You spend time with these people for a long time. I know [Di Martire] is only two years but we spent a lot of time together working, and I’ve known [Nardelli] even before he came to USC […] it is emotional,” Pintaric said. “Those are players that left their mark and they had a great career at USC. Even though they didn’t win a championship yet, they had a great career.”

USC will take on the Bruins 1 p.m. Saturday at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.