Yes, the 7/6 at the end of the 3rd.
I updated my post for clarification
Can I ask what your impression of Krstic is in his first year? I haven’t heard his name as much as I expected to this year but then again I don’t get a chance to follow all the games, and Vukaizic and Duarte naturally get the accolades.
6’3” isn’t really big for a C these days but maybe he plays bigger than that.
He’s not the tallest but he is pretty strong for his age. I think already he is the best all around center in college. Great hands on entry passes, can draw exclusions as well as anyone. Is very quick getting his shot off, and is dangerous on the frontline in 6/5. For a center, he is a decent defender and he fouls hard, but without getting excluded
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He is excellent and becoming successful. Castillo has earned two game winning 5 meters in the last few games, the last with Kristic guarding him. Gheorgie is excellent as well.
If anyone from Overnhgt is here? The Cal vs Stanford replay is 4 min long of the warm up. Any chance the full game can be uploaded?
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Some definitely do, I think. You will see sometimes that when the clock is stopped, the game clock will show fractional seconds (ie 15.62). The shot clock will show 15. Then when the clock starts, the shot clock momentarily bumps up to 16 then back to 15. This might only happen in a clock stop scenario.
The 1 seed is a huge deal this year. I predict UCLA gets it and that gives them a crazy advantage going into the championship match. On the other side of the bracket, those games cannot be overlooked in the QF round
Same thing for Salem v JHU this morning!
I think a play-in game could be a great addition. Would give the 1 seed a more competitive game and would give the D2 winners a better game to play first round rather than traveling out and getting blown out first round.
However on the other hand people could see it as a reward for the 1 seed. Win your regular season games and you get rewarded.
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The commentators kept calling it Tovani’s goal. Ridiculous.
Just like that, the NCAA water polo regular season has come to an end. It felt like yesterday it was August 30th, and the Triton Invite was getting underway. In under a week’s time, conference tournaments will be underway.
A note: I haven’t watched every game this season and there’s undoubtedly some times I’ve watched more than others. Given this, I do make some assumptions based on publicly available stats and whatever else I can find. If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me. The list also won’t be perfect, but I’m open to debate.
*Tier 1: *
1. UCLA (22-1): Leading the pack is none other than UCLA. After avenging its lone loss of the season at USC, UCLA is in the driver’s seat to get the coveted No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament. After replacing Griggs at the end of last season, Nate Tauscher has been a rock for the Bruins, giving up under 8.5 goals a game all season and averaging just over 10 saves per game. The fact that UCLA went 1/13 on its 6x5 and managed to win this game is so impressive. Ryder Dodd is the frontrunner for his second consecutive Cutino Award with 82 goals. Gray Carson is one of the best 2MD in the country and the 45 side of Chase Dodd, Ben Leichty, Bode Brinkema, and Wade Sherlock is the best in the country by a mile. Not to mention the center core of Castillo, Eli, and Scezi.
2. USC (18-3): As predicted before the season, UCLA and USC are the top two teams in the country. I don’t think the decision to take Mills out just to put him back in there was the right decision. I hope for the remainder of the season, Pinta figures it out. If it’s gonna be Mills, it should be Mills unless he’s having a really subpar game. You need to trust your starter. USC definitely has the talent to win it all, but cohesiveness and control will be the keys for this team. Can Stefan Brankovic keep his cool this year? Can the role players step up for USC? Which goalie is going to start and can they stop UCLA’s shooters? There’s questions to be answered, but there’s no denying USC can do it. They showed it at Spieker and again today. Krstic has been great for USC. It feels like he’s at times working more for the exclusion, but with the way the games are currently being officiated, it’s working considering he had nine drawn against UCLA. Vukazic and Lopez-Duart are leading with 46 and 55 goals respectively.
Tier 1B:
3. Stanford (15-6): After being on the outside looking in a month ago, Stanford now has all but locked up an at-large bid as long as Cal doesn’t win the MPSF tournament. In both games against Cal, they put together two complete performances in games that they controlled from start to finish. This is not the deepest team, but it’s a very balanced team. West Temkin has been the best goalie in the MPSF this year. Alex Gheorghe has probably been the best center in the country. The duo of Botond Balogh and Di Martire have been elite along with Forer’s offensive output in 2025. Ryan Ohl isn’t filling up the stat sheet like the others I’ve mentioned, but does all the little things for this Cardinal team. My main concern with them is their ability to string together two elite performances two days in a row. This was the obvious concern two weeks ago when they traveled down to LA and remains unanswered for now.
Tier 1C:
4. Cal (14-6): After winning three consecutive national championships, Cal is on the brink of missing its second consecutive NCAA tournament. After 38 goals as a sophomore, Albert Ponferrada has not been able to make that same impact statistically. Ponferrada has just 13 goals on 34 percent shooting this year. The bright spot for Cal — their returning core is excellent. Aran Pina has potential to be one of the best goalies in the NCAA very soon. Tomas Perrone will continue to improve. Both Dominic Brown and Chase Wilson will return for their senior year. And Beso Akhvlediani will likely be a first or second team All-American with three years left at Cal. Add Maddox, the improved Patrick Kolak and another good freshman class, Cal will be a bigger problem next year.
*Tier 2: *
5. Fordham (23-3): All but likely the No.4 seed in the tournament will be the Fordham Rams. The majority of the production from this group comes from the quadrant of Provenziani, Toth, Silvestri, and Eppel. Eppel has stepped up on another level this year and has been one of the better centers in college waterpolo. Offensively, Provenziani and Toth together on the 12 side is a problem for any defense in the country. Where this team really thrives is on the counter. They are always looking to set themselves up for the counter. However, this is also the reason for their most glaring weakness, which is on the defensive end. In 15 games against ranked opponents + Navy/GW, Fordham has given up an average of 14.2 goals. This is not a recipe for success and will cost them in the NCAA tournament and a potential Final Four if they are able to make it. On the front court, this team isn’t as dangerous and if the No.5 seed can limit their counterattack, I give them a great shot at advancing past Fordham. I think the defense was an issue last year as — maybe not as big of an issue, but still existing — but Lercari was there to hide most of it.
6. SJSU (11-7): I think you can make the case here for LBSU, but considering SJSU has the H2H and less losses, I’m comfortable having them at No.6 despite the loss to UCI. It’s also worth noting that SJSU’s four losses to non big four teams are by a combined five goals. They were competitive in every single game. LBSU has a 3 goal home loss to Princeton so I’ll put them at No.7. Brendan Gyapjas has been a monster for this team, with a ridiculous 53.1 percent save percentage and over 11 saves. He is one of the few goalies in the country who can single handedly beat any non big four team with a performance. The weakness lies on the offensive end. This team needs to help out Gyapjas more by converting on the offensive end. I know they haven’t been healthy all year — I’m not sure what their health will look like next weekend, but they need to be able to convert offensively in a gauntlet of a WCC tournament.
7. LBSU (16-8): This is a team that has been up and down this season, but when you look at their resume, I’m comfortable having them at No.7. They are still the only non-Big Four team to take a Big Four team to overtime. In a year marked by the starring difference between the Big Four and the rest of the competition, this is an LBSU team that still took Stanford to OT during the MPSF tournament, which has been forgotten about. This team has loads of individual talent and this is their strength. They have guys that can shoot lights out and allow you to win games you shouldn’t win. From Gabi Acosta to the Stanley brothers to Caleb Francsico, the pieces are there. For me, the issue lies in the collective. I haven’t seen any footage of the UC Davis win. It looks very impressive on paper, but not sure how much of that was them and how much of that was Davis just folding. This team needs to buy into playing defense the right way and not looking for individual solutions, but working for their centers and setting up their shooters. Gabi Acosta is drawing just over 1 exclusion a game. This can be higher. Out of their 392 goals, only 171 of them (43 percent) are assisted. For reference — out of USC’s 320 goals, 69 percent of them are assisted. This is not winning waterpolo. Caleb Francisco clearly has the green light to shoot whenever he wants (127 shots in 2025), but likely can be smarter with his shot selection. Lastly, the goalkeeping has been a concern for this team, with Jenness and Whitstone splitting time constantly. It looks like they’re going with Jenness the rest of the way. If he can have a good conference tournament, LBSU has a good chance to win the conference tournament.
*Tier 2B: *
8. Pacific (15-7): It’s hard for me to put a team who scored just two goals against any team — even if it’s UCLA — in the top eight. However, in our sport, you really can’t judge a team based on how they play against the Big Four and need to look at their other results. For Pacific, this includes wins against SJSU, Pepperdine, and LMU, and CBU in conference play. You should reward that, especially considering the strong finishes Pepperdine and LMU are having. The biggest difference for this team has come from getting production from its returning players. Freshman attacker Apostolos Georgaras and Borisz Kasa-Gal along with freshman goalie Kiss Gergely have been big contributors to start. However, in those conference games, they got more production from Yoav Rendler, Daniel Viscia, and Ori Buzaglo. If they want to win the WCC tournament, they need a healthy Georgaras (injured against UCLA, barely played against Stanford) and production from the three I mentioned and their bench. I’m not super sold on this team and can see them losing the semifinal game for the second year in a row.
9. UC Davis (12-12): Similarly to the Pacific ranking, it’s hard to put a team with a .500 record at No.9. However, Davis probably has the highest SOS in the country with six games against Big Four teams. They avenged their UCSD loss and are 2-0 against Pepperdine, so it’s hard for me to put Pepperdine here. Their worst loss is UCSB, whereas Pepperdine has a loss to Harvard.. The 9-12 range is very tough. I still believe in Dan Leyson and think that from a coaching perspective, they will be the most prepared for the conference tournament. I am really worried about the team’s offensive output, but I will say, I like Davis’s path to the Big West final. Leyson will have a solid plan to limit Zamanian and Dragovic and I predict they will beat UCSB Saturday.
10. Pepperdine (16-10): After losses to CBU and Harvard in October, it’s safe to say that Pepperdine is back and deservedly in the top 10 following wins over UCI, LMU, and Santa Clara. This is a team with a balanced attack. Four players have 40 goals or more. There is a good argument to be made that Matty Walsh has been a top 8 center in college water polo this year with 55 goals and 54 drawn exclusions. Erik Ionescu has 53 goals and 35 assists while Dane Howell has 53 goals and 31 assists. You add in Sandor Gal, Jon Carcarey, Own Tift and suddenly there is a lot of talent on this team. Smirnov is a solid keeper and might be the second best goalie in the WCC. If this team is clicking on all cylinders, they can very well win the WCC tournament. They do have a tough path, but it really is whoever steps up that weekend.
11. UCSD (20-9): Despite the loss of Akerstrom, this UCSD team has continued to stay competitive in most of its games. Does anybody know what’s happened with Lucas Romaguera? He’s an important player for them and has not featured much lately. Eamon Hennessey has led this team with 54 goals while Bennett Axline has a staggering 67 drawn exclusions on the year. One thing to note — Goalkeeper Alex Hegeman’s numbers have taken a big hit lately. He is averaging less than 6 saves in their last nine games. If UCSD wants a chance in the Big West tournament, they need him to step up or this team’s season could end Friday night.
12. LMU (13-10): Ultimately, when deciding between LMU and UCSD, the Tritons being 2-1 against LMU with less losses and a better SOS and RPI made me put UCSD over them. If the tournament were today, UCSD is probably over LMU. This is a team that’s been plagued by inconsistency over the last month. They beat Davis in early October just to lose to Pacific two weeks later. They then beat Santa Clara and CBU, but lost by 8 to Pepperdine before beating UCSD by 4 and going toe to toe with LBSU. Size wise, this is a small team with Abel Romero Corbalan and Tommaso Baldineti. They have 58 and 63 goals, respectively and play a lot of team, but are probably not the greatest post up defenders (it’s hard to be at that size). Alika Naone, who is still in college, has the green light to shoot at any time, but is shooting just 41 percent. I just don’t see LMU as a team that can string together three consecutive wins to win the WCC. They may get past a struggling CBU team, but can they go further than that?
13. UCSB (17-13): Another team plagued by inconsistency, they do have the quality wins and deserve to be above Princeton and UCI. Since the MPSF Invite, they have wins over Pacific, SJSU, UCSD, and UC Davis. That’s a great resume of good wins. Brock Zamanian and Danilo Dragovic have been terrific, combining for 120 goals. Levi Lentin is having a solid senior year. They have a solid matchup against a Davis team that is struggling. While I do think that Leyson will have Davis prepared and there is the revenge factor, UCSB would rather play a struggling UC Davis team than a UCI team on the rise. Sophomore center Kai Ross has 30 goals and 55 drawn exclusions while Charlie Johnson has 43 goals in his freshman year. With a good incoming class, they probably feel good about where things are headed.
*Tier 2C: *
14. Princeton (21-9): Unlike many of the teams above them, Princeton hasn’t had the opportunity to get quality wins. Outside of the Big Four and Fordham, they are 21-5 with two losses to Pepperdine, two losses to UCSD and a loss to Harvard. Statistically, this is a balanced team with 7 players having at least 39 goals. They’ve gotten a lot of production from Otto Stothart and Taylor Bell. Logan McCarroll will probably be the conference player of the year in the NWPC with 49 goals and 61 drawn exclusions. If they win their conference tournament, they will be a likely No.7 seed with a potential rematch against USC.
15. UCI (15-11): After three consecutive losses to LBSU, Pepperdine, and UCSD, UCI beat SJSU to end the regular season on a high note. This will be crucial for a team looking to gain momentum ahead of the conference tournament. Given that they are 0-2 against Princeton, I can’t put them any higher than 15. This is a team that has the talent to win the Big West and I think they will avenge the UCSD loss in the quarterfinal and set up a semifinal matchup against LBSU. Don’t be surprised if this team goes on a run. Johann Thrall is the engine for this team and has 58 goals. This team’s top line with Thrall, Cole Francisco, and Krstic is solid, but they need production from the bench. The Big West conference doesn’t have the best goalies. I think if Mahmoud can end off his career with a good weekend, he will give UCI a chance to win three in a row. When the Big West tournament is all said and done, I think goalie play will play a big factor in the team that won the tournament.
*Tier 3: *
16. CBU (22-10): We know you can’t count out the Lancers in the WCC tournament, but I do get the sense they’ve run out of fire.
**17 (T): Santa Clara (9-13) & Harvard (19-9)
**
*Tier 4: *
19. Brown (18-9)
20 (T): Navy (20-8) & CMS (20-5)
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I agree with all but think SJSU and LBSU will switch spots.
The Stanford vs Cal game is up on Overnght.
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Who do you think will win big west player of the year and freshman of the year? Any standout freshmen this year? Haven’t been keepin up with it as much as I use to
My predictions…
MPSF: UCLA but could see Stanford
Big West: LBSU
NEWPC: Princeton but could see Harvard
MAWPC: Fordham
WCC: SJSU but could see Pepperdine
Just curious, if Harvard and Pepperdine win their respective conferences, would Harvard be above Pepperdine given their h2h? And same with Princeton and LBSU?
Tough call on player of the year. Probably Acosta. Other possibilities: Caleb Francisco, Zamanian or Dragovic for UCSB. Kiesling for Davis. Newcomer I’d guess Nagy for Long Beach
Harvard would be unlikely to jump Pepperdine given some of their losses (CMS for example). Princeton and Beach are closer but I think Beach would edge them out
Agree. I could not imagine a scenario of Harvard jumping any WCC champion, unless AF shocks everyone at home which would be very exciting.
Let’s go Air Force/Team America World Police!
WCC announced its all-conference teams with only 2 American players on first and second team combined. Wow.
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Good for all those players! Well done!
Cool to see a player like Naone revitalize his career.
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