No. 8 UC Irvine (6-0) at 
No. 1 UCLA (7-0)
Date: Friday, Sept. 12
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Spieker Aquatics Center - Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stats | Watch

No. 2 USC (6-0) at
No. 8 UC Irvine (6-0)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13
Time: 1 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Aquatics Complex - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats

IRVINE, Calif. - No. 8 UC Irvine men's water polo is set to face the top-two ranked teams in the country this week. The Anteaters start with a trip to No. 1 UCLA for a 12 p.m. game on Friday, Sept. 12. They then return home to host No. 2 USC at Anteater Aquatics Complex at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• The 'Eaters are out to a 6-0 start for the first time since the 2014 season.
• The Anteaters have scored 14+ goals in all six games (16.3 gpg).
• Defensively, UCI has allowed eight goals or less in each of its last four outings.
• UC Irvine won back-to-back Big West regular season titles in 2023 and 2024.
• The 'Eaters are 9-1 in conference during that stretch, including a perfect 5-0 mark last year.
• They also claimed the Big West Championship title and made their first NCAA appearance in 30 years in 2023.
• UCI returns nearly 80% of its scoring from a 2024 squad that netted a single-season school record 400 goals.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Top-ranked and defending national champion UCLA improved to 7-0 after a dominant weekend at the Princeton Invitational in New Jersey. The Bruins averaged 20.5 goals per game in their four wins. Their closest contest was a 16-9 victory over No. 4 Fordham. UCLA has four players in double digits in the scoring column, led by Ryder Dodd with a team-best 17 tallies. Dodd was the 2024 Cutino Award Winner and ACWPC Player of the Year. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic Team that won Bronze at the 2024 Paris Games. Nate Tauscher has stepped into the starting goalkeeper role, notching 53 saves and a 5.68 goals against average.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
No. 2 USC will bring a 6-0 record to Irvine after defeating No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 12 Pepperdine last week. The Trojans, who are the 2024 NCAA runners-up, are led by All-American Robert López Duart's team-high 19 goals. He has scored multiple goals in all six games. Bernard Herzer and Charles Mills have split time in the cage, combining for 69 saves and a 9.50 goals against average.

IN THE RANKINGS
UCI came in at No. 8 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association's rankings released on September 10. The Anteaters have been ranked among the top-10 in all three polls this season.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine won two games last Saturday (Sept. 6) at the Inland Empire Classic. The Anteaters started the day with an 18-8 victory over Cal Lutheran, which was ranked sixth in Division III. The Kingsmen were able to keep it close, trailing by one at halftime and by three at the end of the third quarter, but the 'Eaters then came alive, finding the back of the cage eight times in the final eight minutes. Maddox McEwen led the attack with a game and career-high four goals. Jack Stevens, Wyley Dale, Johann Thrall, and Ethan Spoon added two goals apiece. Blake Borders made his UCI debut in the cage, totaling seven saves. In the nightcap, UC Irvine handed host and defending Division III national champion Redlands a 14-7 defeat. Samuel Otta and Luka Krstic tied for the team lead with three goals each, while goalkeeper Zayd Mahmoud compiled six saves in his fifth start of the season.

ON THE ATTACK
UC Irvine scored 14+ goals in all six games with a season-high 21 in a win over Concordia. The Anteaters, who are averaging 16.3 goals per contest, had nine different players register at least one hat trick through the first two weeks of the campaign. Cole Francisco, who has found the back of the net in five of his six outings, is tops on the squad with 12 goals. Luka Krstic (10) and Wyley Dale (10) have also reached double digits in the scoring column.

MINDING THE NET
Senior Zayd Mahmoud started five of UCI's six games this year, logging 136 minutes in the cage. He has compiled 34 saves and a 10.35 goals against average. Mahmoud stopped a season-high nine shots against Concordia on August 30. Junior Blake Borders earned the start against Cal Lutheran (Sept. 6), finishing with seven saves. Redshirt freshman Vincent Vega also made his collegiate debut two weeks ago, playing the second half vs. Cal State Fullerton where he tallied four saves. Sophomore Nolan Cary added three saves in eight minutes of action vs. CUI.

COLLEGIATE FIRSTS
Freshman Samuel Bowman scored his first collegiate goal with 1:35 left in the third quarter of a 21-7 victory over Concordia. Bowman struck again one minute later to cap a seven-goal period for the Anteaters. Sophomore Keegan McGann also had the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career with two tallies in a 15-8 win against Cal State Fullerton.

PRESEASON HONORS
Seniors Luka Krstic and Jack Stevens were named to the eight-member Preseason All-Big West Team as voted on by the conference's head coaches. Krstic is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he led the Anteaters with 80 points on 52 goals and 28 assists. He is a two-time All-American, two-time first-team All-Big West selection, and four-time Big West Player of the Week. Stevens finished with 30 goals and 12 assists a year ago. He is a two-time All-Big West honoree.

BACK FOR MORE
The Anteaters welcome back three of their top four scorers from last year's squad that set a single-season school record with 400 goals. Junior Johann Thrall (54) and senior Luka Krstic (52) combined for over 100 of those goals, while sophomore Cole Francisco found the back of the net 29 times in his first collegiate season. Krstic (First Team), Thrall (Second Team), Francisco (Honorable Mention & All-Freshman), Jack Stevens (Honorable Mention), and Ethan Spoon (All-Freshman) received all-conference honors in 2024.

HOME SWEET HOME
UCI is set to host the 2025 Big West Championships at Anteater Aquatics Complex, November 21-23. The conference tournament will make its way to Irvine after being held in La Jolla in 2023 and in Davis in 2024.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine heads back to UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center for the MPSF Invitational, Sept. 19-21.