USA Men’s Water Polo Falls to Hungary, 7-5, in Semifinal Match of FINA World Cup

May 27, 2012; Newport Beach, CA, USA; General view of a FINA water polo Mikasa ball during the exhibition game between the Hungary and the United States at Newport Harbor high school. The United States defeated Hungary 12-9. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, August 23. THE USA Men’s National Team fell to Hungary 7-5 in the semifinals of the FINA World Cup. John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC) scored two goals to pace the United States offense. The loss sends Team USA to the bronze medal match where they will take on Croatia on Sunday at 12:50am pst. A live webcast is available of all matches courtesy of FINA TV and can be accessed by clicking here. To visit the official tournament website, click here.

Team USA opened with the first strike on a goal from Nolan McConnell (Laguna Beach, CA/Long Beach St./SET) to take a 1-0 lead. Hungary roared back with three straight goals to go up 3-1 after the first period. In the second, Mann scored his first to draw within one at 3-2 but Hungary answered with a goal to make it 4-2 at halftime. Hungary went up 5-2 in the third before Mann and Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/Stanford) connected for goals and a 5-4 game. Hungary added two more goals in the period and went ahead 7-4 going into the fourth. The United States defense held Hungary scoreless in the final eight minutes but could only muster one goal from Luca Cupido (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS/Newport Beach WPC) closing to within 7-5 with 3:11 to play. Team USA would get no closer and fell by the two goal margin. Late in the match Hungary’s Denes Varga was sent from the match on a brutality foul and will have to sit out the gold medal final vs Serbia.

Scoring
USA 5 (1, 1, 2, 1) J. Mann 2, L. Cupido 1, N. McConnell 1, A. Bowen 1
HUN 7 (3, 1, 3, 0)

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com.

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