After weathering three top-20 teams and emerging undefeated, the Bruins are up against another slate of ranked opponents.

No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo (5-0) will play No. 13 UC Irvine (7-1) on Friday afternoon at Anteater Aquatics Complex in Irvine. UCLA will then host No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (10-4) and No. 15 Loyola Marymount (4-0) in its home opener Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center as part of the UCLA Mini Invite.

Coach Adam Wright’s squad began its season with dominant victories over No. 20 Saint Mary’s (3-4) and Bucknell (1-4) at the Triton Invitational hosted at UC San Diego.

The following trio of opponents – No. 10 Pacific (3-2), No. 6 UC Davis (7-2) and then-No. 19 Santa Clara (4-1) – proved more difficult, with UCLA winning by margins of two, four and five points, respectively.

UCLA’s Sept. 4 game against Pacific was its narrowest win of the season. The Bruins and the Tigers scored the same number of goals in the second and third quarters, while the Bruins held the advantage in the first and last quarters.

Though utility Borisz Kasa-Gal scored a game-high four goals for the Tigers, fifth-year Bruin goalkeeper Griffen Price responded defensively by matching his season-high eight saves.

The victory against Davis was also slim. UCLA ended the first quarter behind by two goals – its first and only time trailing after the first period.

However, UCLA’s defense adjusted in the next quarter, limiting Davis to two goals compared to its own four. The pattern continued in the third stanza, when the Bruins scored five goals while holding the Aggies to just one.

“If we’re playing well defensively, we’re always going to have our chance,” Wright said after the Bruins’ season opener.

The Bruins’ final game of the Aggie Roundup was their steadiest showing of the weekend. UCLA limited Santa Clara to just eight goals, its worst offensive output of the season by 10 goals.

Price and sophomore goalkeeper Harper Gardner combined for 13 saves against the Broncos, matching the highest single-game total of the season. The Bruins opened with a 3-0 stretch, and two players – freshman utility Luka Gladović and senior center Marcell Szécsi – notched their first hat tricks of the season.

Senior utility Ben Liechty and junior attacker Ryder Dodd also earned hat tricks in the past weekend, with Dodd’s four goals against Davis being his season high. Sixteen Bruins scored across the three-game stretch, and nine scored more than one goal. All but one newcomer, excluding Price, appeared on the stat sheet.

“Every year, as a new team, it’s been fun getting to play with some transfers and also fun playing with the younger guys,” Liechty said.

With four ranked wins under their belt to start the 2026 campaign, the Bruins will look to add another three this weekend. Their first opponent, the Anteaters, have gone on a five-game winning streak after a 10-point defeat to No. 3 Stanford (4-0) on Aug. 29.

Attacker Johann Thrall helms Irvine’s offense, having led the team in goals every season of his collegiate career.

The 2025 All-Big West Honorable Mention selection has scored 16 goals this year across eight games played. The senior has scored multiple goals in six games and is also third on the team in steals with six.

After taking on the Anteaters, the Bruins will play at home in two back-to-back games. Junior attacker Danilo Dragović will face his former squad, Santa Barbara. Last year, the All-Big West First Team honoree led the Gauchos in goals and the conference in points.

The Gauchos’ leader this year is attacker Luigi Canepa. The freshman has logged seven hat tricks, setting a season-high of eight goals in Santa Barbara’s season-opening victory against Saint Mary’s.

LMU is undefeated across four games, although it has not competed since Aug. 29. The Lions are led by attacker Nico Furneaux and his 10 goals. Furneaux is in his first season seeing playing time at LMU, having redshirted his sophomore year after transferring from Santa Barbara. In second place with nine goals is Eduardo Carraresi, who scored just five goals across last year’s campaign.

Facing another tightly scheduled weekend of ranked opponents, the reigning champions will aim to maintain their momentum.

“We’re excited for the next couple months,” said fifth-year defender Jack Merrill. “We’re really going to go compete for another championship.”