Trojans look to continue winning ways up north


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The No. 2 men’s water polo team boasts a 6-0 record as they head into their first true challenge of the season in the NorCal invitational this weekend.

The Trojans will open play against an unranked Redlands Saturday morning. If the team is able to win that game, they will then advance to an afternoon meeting with either No. 8 UC Irvine or No. 12 Princeton.

This tournament will provide the team with not only a chance to face off against nationally ranked talent, but also a chance to see what the competition looks like in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

All of the teams in the conference will be present at the tournament aside from No. 5 Pacific.

Players on the team have expressed the difficulty of suddenly switching gears from what could be considered lower-level tournaments to one that brings in top national talent.

“These past games are good preparation for the tournament,” sophomore All-American Mihajlo Milicevic said. “We use these games to try our plays, and we have a lot of new guys so we use the games to see how we play together.”

Learning to play together has been a focus of a very young Trojan squad, and this weekend will be a test of the preparation they have gone through this year in practice.

“During practice we work on always being prepared,” sophomore Lachlan Edwards said. “Always putting yourself in the position you will be in during the game and knowing what’s at stake because making mistakes against lesser teams might not hurt you but against the better teams, they will score on you for it. It just makes it so much harder to catch up.”

The tournament field is deep, featuring 15 of the top 20 teams in the nation.

The Trojans are hoping to build on last season’s fourth place finish at the NorCal Invitational where they suffered a semifinal loss to UCLA and a third-place game loss to Cal.

“If I look in the guy’s faces, it shows that we are excited,” Milicevic said. “I am very excited to go and show my best.”

The Trojans are coming off of a strong opening to their season not just as a team but as individuals.

Five of the top 25 goal-scorers in the MPSF represent the Trojans, leading to one of the most well-rounded scoring attacks in years.

The crew is led by junior Blake Edwards, who is No. 2 in the conference with 25 goals already this season, averaging just over four a game. Sophomore Matteo Morelli is also in the top 10 for the Trojans at No. 6 with 17 goals thus far this season.