Men's Olympic Water Polo Team Going For Gold!

8/22/2008 12:00:00 AM

Beijing, China - August 22 - The beat rolls on for the U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo as they are bound for the Gold Medal game for the first time since the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul following a 10-5 defeat of Serbia in the semi-final round earlier tonight at the Ying Tung Natatorium. The fourth quarter of the game is tentatively scheduled to air on Friday evening in the United States at some point after 8pm both pacific and eastern on NBC. Team USA continues their improbable run that has seen them enter the tourney as the ninth ranked team in the world and now be assured of no less than a Silver Medal leaving these Olympic Games. The team will battle Hungary for the Gold at 3:40pm on Sunday afternoon in Beijing.

Once again the defense was stellar for the United States, backed by goalie Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA) who stockpiled 16 saves on the night as the team continues their defensive roll.

This game started off slowly with each team getting acclimated in the first couple of minutes but Serbia would strike first at the 5:46 mark as they used a USA exclusion to take the lead at 1-0. That was short lived as Layne Beaubien (Coronado, CA) got Team USA on the board with a tally to tie the game at 1-1. Some three minutes later the Serbs would grab the lead back as Aleksandar Sapic found the cage on a restart to build a 2-1 lead. The United States would counter that shortly when Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA) found the net after an exclusion was drawn by JW Krumpholz (Santa Ana, CA) and the game was tied at 2-2. Team USA took their first lead moments later when Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA) took a feed from Azevedo for the score following a Peter Hudnut (Encino, CA) kickout. The 3-2 lead would only last thirty seconds as the Serbs came back with a score on a player advantage and the game was tied at 3-3 after the first.

After just one quarter the two teams had already equaled the amount of goals scored in their preliminary round matchup. In the second quarter Serbia again grabbed a lead two minutes in on a player advantage and were up 4-3. This was snuffed out some two minutes later when Beaubien came calling again with his second goal on a player advantage to even the tally at 4-4. That was followed at the 1:26 mark of the period when following another Serbia exclusion Varellas dealt inside to Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA) who buried the shot from point blank range for a 5-4 lead. They weren't done there as another tremendous scoring opportunity came up following a double exclusion on Serbia, as one of the excluded players returned for a 6x5 advantage for the United States it was Azevedo again ripping the net for a score and a 7-5 advantage. Serbia tacked on a goal later in the period and it was 7-5 headed to the final quarter of play.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Americans. After Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA) was rolled for extracurricular activities in transition the team rallied to keep the scoring going. Azevedo lit the proverbial lamp for a third time at the 4:04 mark to go up 8-5. From there Rick Merlo (Fresno, CA) checked in and fired home a shot from straight on during a player advantage and the lead grew to 9-5. The final dagger was delivered as Team USA was looking to just run the clock out and Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA) rocketed a ball so hard into the cage it bounced off the back bar and out but built the lead to an insurmountable 10-5. It was estimated by Head Coach Terry Schroeder that this is the first win against Serbia in six or seven years while the Serbians pointed back to the year 2000 as the last time they may have lost to a United States team.

The U.S. will play two-time defending gold medalist Hungary in the final Sunday. The Hungarians, looking to become the first country to win three consecutive gold medals in the sport since Great Britain completed that feat in 1920, beat Montenegro 11-9 in the other semifinal.

Flash Quotes:

"I think when we beat Croatia in May that was the start, then the World League was a big step, then we win the bracket and the guys really started to believe we can do this." Terry Schroeder, Head Coach - U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

"Ryan Bailey and I started in 1998 together, and the first Olympics in 2000 we go out and then again in 2004 we go out and just us and this team coming together like we have today, I couldn't be happier." Tony Azevedo, U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

Scoring:

USA: 10 (3,2,2,3) T. Azevedo 3, R. Bailey 2, L. Beaubien 2, P. Varellas 1, J. Powers 1, R. Merlo 1
SRB: 5 (3,1,1,0) D. Pjetlovic 2, V. Vujasinovic 2, A. Sapic 1

Saves - USA - M. Moses 16 - SRB - S. Soro 1

 

Beijing 2008 Olympics