No. 2 USC kept rolling in La Jolla, turning in another runaway performance and closing the Triton Invitational with a 27-10 win over No. 15 UC Santa Barbara.
The Trojans never let the Gauchos settle in. USC opened fast with a 4-1 burst in less than four minutes, then answered UC Santa Barbara’s push to 7-5 midway through the second quarter by ripping off five straight goals before halftime. By the break, the Trojans were in control at 12-5, and they had already spread the scoring around with eight different players finding the net in the first half.
The second half brought more of the same. USC put up nine goals in the third quarter alone, including a seven-goal run that slammed the door on any comeback idea. The Trojans allowed just five goals in each half and dictated the game from the opening sprint all the way through the final whistle.
Strahinja Krstic led the charge with four goals, giving him his third game this season with at least a hat trick. Robert López Duart stayed hot after scoring seven times yesterday, adding three more goals.
Apostolos Georgaras, Luke Nelson and Adrian Senciac each completed hat tricks as USC kept the pressure on from every angle. In goal, Charles Mills made five saves and added a career-high four steals in three quarters of work.
The result completed a 4-0 weekend for USC, marking the fourth straight season the Trojans have opened with that record. It also pushed their first four games to a staggering 107-33 scoring margin, with the 107 goals standing as the most by the program over any four-game stretch.
The depth was on display throughout the weekend and again in this one. Zach Bettino scored twice to become the 18th USC field player to score, making it 18-for-18 through the opening weekend. All five first-quarter goals came from different Trojans, and López Duart extended his multi-goal streak to four straight games.
Senciac’s first USC hat trick came in style, as he went 3-for-3 and scored all three of his goals in the fourth quarter. USC also finished with 20 steals, its highest single-game total since recording 23 against Pomona Pitzer on Sept. 2, 2023.
USC goals: Strahinja Krstic 4, Apostolos Georgaras 3, Robert López Duart 3, Luke Nelson 3, Adrian Senciac 3, Efe Naipoglu 2, Marc Angelescu 2, Zach Bettino 2, Reed Hanna 1, Ante Jerkovic 1, Tyler Anderson 1, Chase Landa 1, Taj Whitehead 1.
Saves: Charles Mills 5, Luke Harris 1.
In Other News...
USC Just Got Another Reminder It No Longer Looks Like An Elite Program
USCs place in the national conversation has become a little easier to measure by who is missing from the preseason spotlight. The Trojans did not place a single player on the USA TODAY Sports preseason All-America college football team, a list that leaned heavily toward the sports familiar heavyweights from Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia and Texas. For a program that still carries a blueblood name, it is another sign that the market no longer treats USC like one of the sports defining powers.
The bigger concern is how often this sort of reminder keeps arriving for a team that has not reached the College Football Playoff in 12 seasons and now heads into a pivotal 2026 campaign under Lincoln Riley. USC is still being measured against the standard set by programs such as Ohio State and Oregon, but the preseason rankings suggest it has work to do before it can claim that tier again. For a fan base used to thinking in championships, the gap between reputation and reality is becoming harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
USC May Have Found A New Weapon Sooner Than Expected
USCs 42-26 win over San Jos State offered an early glimpse of a player who may have arrived sooner than expected. True freshman Trent Mosley caught seven passes for 118 yards in his college debut, becoming the first USC freshman since 2014 to clear 100 receiving yards in a first game and giving the Trojans another dynamic option to watch as the season unfolds.
The performance came on a day when USC was also sorting out its leadership structure, naming Tobias Raymond, Kilian OConnor, Alex VanSumeren and Jayden Maiava as permanent captains for the season. OConnor is currently sidelined by injury but remains part of that leadership group, while the program also unveiled the Progressive Insurance logo on the field as part of a multiyear sponsorship agreement, another sign of how much is changing around the team even as Mosleys emergence grabs the attention. [Read more 🡒]
USC Freshman TE Is Drawing A Comparison Trojans Fans Will Notice
Mark Bowman has barely gotten his USC career underway, but the freshman tight end is already generating the kind of buzz that tends to follow special talent. After a quiet debut in which he had limited production, Bowman still left enough of an impression for college football analyst David Pollack to point to his potential, which is exactly the sort of early conversation Trojans fans like to hear about a young pass-catcher in their system.
The comparison gaining traction is one USC supporters will recognize quickly: Brock Bowers. The former Georgia star piled up a rare college rsum, winning two national championships and the Mackey Award twice before heading to the Las Vegas Raiders, and an SEC coach reportedly sees some of that same upside in Bowman. For a freshman just beginning to carve out his role, being mentioned in the same breath as Bowers says plenty about the ceiling USC thinks it may be working with. [Read more 🡒]