USA Men’s Water Polo Beats Montenegro, 7-6

GENOVA, Italy, June 20. THE USA Men's Senior National Team scored their biggest win the FINA World League Super Final upending Montenegro 7-6 on a goal by Tony Azevedo with just two seconds remaining. The victory keeps the team in contention for a title at the tournament as they take on Australia on Saturday in the semi-final round.

Tied at six goals apiece in the fourth quarter Team USA Head Coach Terry Schroeder called a timeout. Azevedo received the ball as play resumed and following an ordinary foul delivered the winning goal from five meters out on the restart. The tally capped a back and forth contest that saw the lead change hands several times.

Montenegro got things going early with a score on a man advantage midway through the first quarter to lead 1-0. That would be all the scoring in a defensive-minded opening stanza. In the second Team USA came to life with two goals in a row on consecutive man-up opportunities to take their first lead at 2-1. Montenegro answered right back with two goals of their own and at the half it was a 3-2 advantage for Montenegro.

In the third quarter USA took a brief lead at 4-3 before Montenegro rebounded with a pair of scores to build a 5-4 advantage going into the final quarter. In the fourth the two teams jockeyed for the lead before tying at 6-6 which led to the winning goal by Team USA. Team USA turned in a 4-10 performance on the man advantage while Merrill Moses was sturdy in the net putting aside eight shots.

"This is another positive step in the direction that we want to go. It was a game to help build our confidence and show that we can play at that next level, and we are beginning to play with some consistency," said Team USA Head Coach Terry Schroeder. The team takes on Australia for the fourth time in two weeks tomorrow as the two squads just finished a three game exhibition set in Southern California on June 10.

Special thanks to USA Water Polo for contributing this report.

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