Irvine, CA - April 20 - The 2026 USA Water Polo Men's National League regular season concluded yesterday across California. After a successful four weeks of action, here is how the standings shook out. Beginning with the open age divisions, Los Angeles Athletic Club went undefeated and clinched the best record in the Southern California Red Division and league overall. Mission lost just once all season to claim the Southern California Blue Division's top spot. In the new Northern California White Division, Golden Bear swept its season slate and stand alone amongst its competitors up north. The new 18U divisions brought elite age group water polo into the National League for the first time with two clubs outpacing the rest through the regular season. In SoCal, Newport earned the division's top slot and Lamorinda did the same up north. For complete regular season results, click here. For final regular season National League standings, click here. Don't forget LIVE streaming is available on Overnght with LIVE stats courtesy of 6-8 Sports.

Los Angeles Athletic Club Finishes Undefeated: Los Angeles Athletic Club wrapped up its regular season as the lone undefeated team in Southern California. In Week 4, LAAC took down Channel Islands United (24-9), New York Athletic Club (14-11), and Long Beach AF (20-17, SO). Gray Carson was automatic against CIU, going 6/6 from the field and picking up two earned exclusions in the dominant victory. Olympic bronze medalist Ryder Dodd took charge offensively against NYAC with five goals scored while goalkeeper Brendon Gyapjas tallied an astonishing 24 saves in the cage. In the final game of the weekend, LAAC had to come through in its only penalty shootout of the season to defeat LBAF. Marton Szatmary led the charge for LAAC as he recorded five goals, three assists, and two earned exclusions in the win.

Mission In Top Spot Despite First Loss: Mission began the week by doubling up NL Lions (16-8) before suffering its lone loss of the season to Fight On (11-12) and then rebounding with a win over Sunset (16-8). Vincent Merk took charge against NL Lions with three goals, two assists, and one steal. In the one-goal loss to Fight On, Ben Liechty came through to record three goals, two steals, and two earned exclusions. Bode Brinkema put home three goals and added two assists in the final game of the regular season while goalkeeper Nicholas Tovani notched 13 saves in net.

Golden Bear Unblemished In Two Weeks: Golden Bear wrapped up the top spot in the Northern California White Division with three victories in Week 4. Golden Bear beat The Olympic Club (17-16, SO) in what was ultimately a de facto White Division regular season title game before cruising to wins over Spartans (22-8) and Aggies (21-13). In the biggest game of the week, Tomas Perrone came up big with five goals to power Golden Bear past The Olympic Club. Kai Inoue starred for Golden Bear with four goals against Spartans. Finally, Maddox Arlett and Perrone each scored three versus Aggies with Perrone adding four assists to his tally.

Newport Rolling In SoCal 18U Division: The 18u Newport team is riding an eight-game winning streak as the regular season gives way to the National League championship. Newport opened the weekend with win over Trojan (17-8), continued by dispatching La Jolla United (17-9), and finished with a victory against Dons WPC (11-9). Declan Bartlett scored five goals and added two earned exclusions for Newport versus Trojan in the opener. Against La Jolla United, it was Bartlett and Cooper Kelly who each scored three goals. Finally, Bartlett scored four goals and handed out two assists for Newport in the closing victory versus Dons WPC.

Lamorinda Produces Strong Showing In NorCal 18U Division: The 18u Lamorinda squad concluded the regular season as the only unbeaten 18u club in the National League. Lamorinda took care of NORCAL (13-9) and Diablo (17-15) in Week 4 to clinch the honor. Tyler Williams notched a hat trick for Lamorinda against NORCAL to lead the charge before Brock Bliss registered five goals and one assist for Lamorinda versus Diablo.

Game of the Week Summary: Los Angeles Athletic Club vs New York Athletic Club
In Week 4, Los Angeles Athletic Club and New York Athletic Club faced off in the Southern California Open Division Game of the Week at Servite High School in Anaheim. LAAC jumped in front early behind a pair of Jonathan Lotero goals to begin the game. Olympic bronze medalist Alex Bowen notched NYAC's first goal of the match before Marton Szatmary scored for LAAC. Olympic bronze medalist Marko Vavic entered the stat sheet with the next goal of the game for NYAC and then Gray Carson beat the buzzer for LAAC to end the first quarter with a 4-2 lead. Max Miller and Vavic leveled the score to begin the second period for NYAC before Bryce Hoerman put LAAC back in front. Eli Liechty had a response for NYAC but then Szatmary scored on a man advantage with :07 remaining. LAAC goalkeeper Brendon Gyapjas ended the half with a full tank skip shot into an open net after NYAC shot one second too early during a 7-on-6 to give LAAC a 7-5 edge at the break. Ryder Dodd and Gianpiero Di Martire exchanged goals throughout the thrid quarter. Ryder Dodd began the second half with back-to-back goals and then NYAC got one back from Gianpiero Di Martire. Another from Ryder Dodd followed prior to Di Martire converting again. Not to be outdone, Ryder Dodd stepped up for a penalty shot goal before ending the quarter with a buzzer-beating backhand from long range to establish a 12-7 lead after three. In the fourth period, NYAC registered four goals from Di Martire, Milo Joseph, Bowen, and Makoto Kenney while Sam Keightley and Hoerman put home two for LAAC to confirm the 14-11 win.

Game of the Week Summary: Golden Bear vs The Olympic Club
Golden Bear and The Olympic Club faced off in the Northern California Open Division Game of the Week at UC Davis in what proved to be the de facto White Division title bout. Olympic Club struck first when Odysseas Masmanidis had a put back off a rebound to begin the game. Maddox Arlett leveled the score for Golden Bear before Matthew Farmer put Olympic Club back in front. Soren Jensen and Kai Inoue traded scores and then Olympic bronze medalist Johnny Hooper scored late to put Olympic Club ahead 4-2 after one quarter of play. Beso Akhvlediani and Dominic Brown scored back-to-back to open the second period and quickly knot the score. At the end of the half, Thomas Carroll and Connor Stapleton scored for Olympic Club on either side of a Milan Sumich goal for Golden Bear leaving the score at 6-5 for Olympic Club at the break. To begin the third quarter, Carroll and Nikola Mirkovic widened the Olympic Club lead to three before Tomas Perrone got one back for Golden Bear. Jensen and Akhvlediani traded goals before Tyler Abramson and Patrik Kolak did the same to set the score at 10-8 for Olympic Club. In the fourth period, Farmer widened the Olympic Clud edge before Perrone converted a pair of goals for Golden Bear to bring them back within one. Olympic Club retook a two-goal lead from a Jackson Kimbell goal midway through the frame. From there, Golden Bear needed scores and stops. Stops came but no goals were scored until Arlett halved the deficit with :38 seconds left in regulation. Needing another score, Golden Bear turned to Inoue on the counter attack and he snuck the game-tying goal into the back of the net with :02 left to force a shootout. Olympic bronze medalist Drew Holland came up with a save on the first attempt of the shootout and Aran Pina did the same for Golden Bear. After that, Perrone converted and Pina made another nice save to put Golden Bear in control. Luke Bachler, Colin Mulcahy, Inoue, and Masmanidis continued with four straight conversions before Holland came up with his second stop of the shootout. Abramson sunk the next shot to reestablish a level score prior to Akhvlediani, Hooper, and Perrone all successfully converting. That left Jensen with a chance to tie the game but his shot clanged off the right post to give Golden Bear the 17-16 win.

Game of the Week Summary: 18u Newport vs 18u Dons WPC
Newport and Dons WPC met in the 18u Division Game of the Week at UC Irvine. Dons WPC got off to a quick start with the game's first three goals from Maximus Bruhn before Newport answered with Declan Bartlett. Dons WPC went up 4-1 on the last goal of the quarter by Jack Davis. Newport began to mount a comeback in the second period when Caruso Polenzani converted on a man advantage. Next, Bruhn scored his fourth goal of the day before Hudson Tweed rang the register for Dons WPC. Sean Anderson and Bartlett scored the final two goals of the second period to pull Newport within two, 6-4. Marco Rizof and Owen Marks tied the game in the third quarter for Newport who allowed no goals to set the score at 6-6 after three. In the final frame, Cooper Kelly scored first to give Newport the lead. Bruhn answered for Dons WPC and then Bartlett responded for Newport. From there, Davis and Marks traded goals for both sides prior to Polenzani putting Newport up two for the first time. Davis would score for Dons WPC with :27 seconds left but Bartlett put the game to bed for Newport with the final goal of the game to confirm an 11-9 victory.

Save City: There were some great goal keeping performances this weekend as LAAC's Brendon Gyapjas recorded 24 saves versus NYAC and NYAC's Chris Whitelegge tallied 18 saves against Sunset. 18u La Jolla United's Jake Nielsen notched seven saves versus 18u Aetos.

League Leaders: Long Beach AF's Gabriel Acosta led the open age division in goals this season (43) while 18u Dons WPC's Maximus Bruhn was the 18U division top scorer (54). NL Lions goalkeeper Adrian Ramirez led the open age division with 94 saves as 18u Aetos goalkeeper Zane Kieckhafer was first in the 18u division with 99 saves. USA Youth's Tyler Anderson was the open age division leader in earned exclusions (54) while 18u Channel Islands United's Ivan Khramtsov led the 18u division (37).

6-8 Sports +/- Leaders: Riverside's Rafael Martinez was the open age division leader this season with a +72.8 plus/minus. 18u Mission's Lars Knepper led the 18u age division at +79.3 plus/minus.

Stat Watch: 6-8 Sports is the official stat program of the National League. In addition to live scoring during the matches, 6-8 Sports provides box scores and league leaders. Stats are available here.

Video Highlights: Overnght Media Group was on site this weekend to stream the 2026 National League. Game replays are available now. Highlights from those matches will be available soon. Be sure to follow @USAWP to get a closer look!

Social Media: The hashtag #USAWPNL is the official hashtag of the National League. When you are posting information about the National League on Facebook, Instagram, or X be sure to add #USAWPNL. Have your voice heard in the National League conversation!

Up Next: Action resumes with the National League Championship weekend from May 1-3 at venues TBD in Southern California. To watch a weekly recap and breakdown, be sure to check out Water Polo Wednesday on YouTube.