Spain Scores Huge Upset Over Olympic Champ USA in Women’s Water Polo

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BARCELONA, Spain, July 29. BOTH of the U.S. National Water Polo teams ran into Spanish buzzsaws. A day after Spain knocked the men out of their tournament, the reigning Olympic champion women’s water polo squad fell to Spain’s women’s team, 9-6, during quarterfinals at the FINA World Championships.

The finish proved to be redemption for Spain after losing to the U.S. last summer in the Olympics. Spain didn’t waste much time, coming out firing on all cylinders early on and never letting the U.S. get back into the match.

“We were looking forward to this match,” said Spanish goalie Laura Ester. “They took away the gold medal from us in London and we did not want to go home without a medal here in Barcelona.” Her teammate Pareja has played the best game of the tournament so far. The team captain said that “the key was to play 100 percent from the first minute. We played the perfect game.”

Other results:
Russia v. Canada: 17-9
Australia v. Greece: 9-5
Hungary v. Netherlands: 11-7

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