The USC men’s water polo seniors went out with a bang in the final home match of their careers, crushing the No. 10 UC Davis Aggies 18-10.
Despite being a one-goal game in the third period, the USC seniors lit the lamp nine times to put the game well out of reach by the time the final horn sounded. Fifth-year driver Carson Kranz had a particularly great performance, racking up a hat trick early in the matchup.
His partner in crime — fifth-year two-meter Max Miller — also scored two goals of his own early in the match. The pair accounted for five of the team’s first nine points in their last time in Uytengsu Aquatics Center as Trojans.
“It was nostalgic,” Kranz said. “This place is awesome. Definitely a little emotional, but I’ve had a great run here.”
Kranz indeed had quite an amazing run with USC, garnering enough hardware to go down as one of the greatest to play in Uytengsu. In 2023 alone, he was named to the ACWPC All-America Second Team, the All-MPSF First Team, the NCAA All-Tournament Second Team and the MPSF All-Tournament team. He had four hat tricks in the season, contributing to his 32 goals that helped USC win their second straight MPSF title.
Although bittersweet about the game he just played in, Kranz looked ahead toward the end of the season with a very specific number.
“We got 43 [now 41] days until NCAA,” said Kranz. “We’re very confident… we’re going to look at next weekend first and foremost, pick up two big wins, finish out the rest of our season, head for MPSF conference, and then go to the big dance and win that s***.”
It was not just Kranz and Miller who had a great game, however. As is typical from the squad’s leading scorer, sophomore driver Robert López Duart had a hat trick of his own, while redshirt junior transfer 2-meter Jack Martin put in two goals.
A total of 12 different Trojans scored in the game, marking the 12th time this season that USC has had 10 or more scorers in a single game.
In cage for USC was redshirt sophomore Bernardo Herzer, who posted eight saves in the matchup before redshirt junior Eric Hubner relieved him in the fourth quarter. With one save on the day, Hubner moved his total up to 19 on the season, with a .487 save percentage.
The Trojans moved to 16-3 with the victory and will face the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal at Avery Aquatic Center Saturday at 1 p.m.