CSUF men’s water polo looks to earn its second consecutive winning season.
Riding the wave of an above .500 season, Cal State Fullerton men’s water polo enters the new year poised to take a much-needed leap in building a winning culture and program.
The Titans concluded last season with a 17-16 record, falling to UC Davis in the Big West Tournament.
One of the largest challenges the Titans will face this season is changes in the locker room. Sophomore Francesco Schiaffino, who was a Big West All-Freshman, will be sidelined with an injury for the upcoming season, while the team also lost four of its top five scorers from 2025.
“This year, unfortunately, I cannot play because I’m injured. I’ll still go to every game and try to help them,” Schiaffino said.
Although suffering the early loss of a promising young player and contributing starters, the Titans have brought in new additions to the roster. Several were from in and out of the country, and had to quickly adjust to one another.
New transfers junior Cade Zeilinger and senior Jason Honey are making an immediate splash upon their arrival. Zeilinger joins the team after scoring nearly 100 goals in his freshman season and 87 in his sophomore year at Orange Coast College, while Honey has looked just as strong, arriving from California Baptist University.
“Cade Zeilinger coming in has really had a great training camp. Jason Honey, a transfer from Cal Baptist, has had a very good training camp too,” said Head Coach Kyle Witt. “I’m really excited for those two to see if they can bring the toughness that we need in the pool.”
Freshman goalkeeper Zachary Shouka is one of the team’s young acquisitions and will look to continue his record-setting play at CSUF. Shouka earned team and league MVP honors at Canyon High School and currently holds the most saves in the program’s history, averaging 14 per game.
“I already feel such a sense of family, especially with some new guys that just came in last week from Canada or Hungary,” Shouka said. “I think the rate we climatized to the rest of the team is remarkable and I think that says a lot to the overall brotherhood that our team is.”
With the potential cultural reset, the Titans are now pointing to their 2026 team captains to take a commanding position. Those players are seniors Carmelo Bangs, Ethan Cooney and Ethan Merritt.
“They did a great job, fixing problems from the year before and also building on successes,” Witt said. “Those three have exceptional leadership skills.”
With a revamped roster, Witt believes the team’s chemistry and unity are finally hitting their stride since the program’s return.
“I think our culture is finally where I want it to be in year four; it’s just taken a long time to get there,” Witt said. “We’ll have a lot of young players playing or new to Fullerton, and that’s going to be a big obstacle to overcome, so I’m hopeful our culture can carry us through that.”
Since the program’s reinstatement in the 2023 season, there has been one goal left to meet for the Titans: winning a conference game.
“We were close last year,” Witt said. “And I do see us getting over the hump, so I’m hopeful this year.”
The Titans sit at 0-15 in Big West action across three seasons, facing an uphill battle in one of the nation’s deepest conferences. CSUF’s conference opponents include Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC San Diego and UC Irvine, all of which held top-20 rankings in the previous season.
“I can assure you, I can promise you with my name on the line, that first number is not gonna be a zero by the end of the season,” Shouka said. “I know it. Francesco knows it. Coach Witt knows it, because this is our year.”
CSUF will dive back into action for the first time this season against Concordia University Irvine on Aug. 28 for the first of four games in the UCI tournament.
The opening sprint is set for 11:40 a.m. on Friday.