Water Polo Day 2 Olympic Recap: U.S. Falls to Spain; Medal Contenders Tie

Photo Courtesy: Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

By Dan D’Addona

After hanging with defending Olympic champion Croatia for nearly the entire opening match, the U.S. men’s water polo team faced a different kind of heartbreak in the second game.

Spain scored four consecutive goals in the second half and hung on to defeat the U.S. 10-9 on Monday in the second pool play game at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

With a minute remaining in the game, Alex Bowen scored for the U.S. to bring the Americans within one, but after an exclusion penalty, Spain was able to run out the clock and improve to 1-1. The U.S. dropped to 0-2.

Gonzalo Echinique scored three goals to lead Spain, which had three players and an assistant coach ejected in the game. The U.S. had two players ejected.

Bowen scored three goals and Bret Bonanni scored four for the U.S., which faces France — also 0-2 — on Wednesday. Spain will face Croatia.

Croatia 8, Montenegro 7

Croatia’s Luka Bukic scored with eight seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give his team a thrilling 8-7 win over Montenegro on Monday.

Montenegro’s Mladan Janovic tied the game with 2:40 to go, two minutes after Croatia’s Luka Loncar had scored to take the lead.

Drasko Brguljan, Bukic, Loncar and Janovic each scored twice.

Croatia improves to 2-0 and will face Spain on Wednesday. Montenegro (1-1) will face Italy.

Serbia 9, Greece 9

Serbia had to force a stunning tie in the opening game against Hungary, and despite being the gold medal favorites in Rio, Serbia hasn’t won yet.

Or lost.

Serbia tied Greece 9-9 on Monday, again in comeback fashion.

Greece led 4-1 thanks to several big saves from goalie Konstantinos Flegkas, who only allowed one goal in 13 shots by Serbia.

Serbia’s Milan Aleksic and Milos Cuk scored within a minute of each other to pull even with Greece, then a goal by Nikic Slobodan gave Serbia its first lead.

But Ioannis Fountoulis scored his fourth goal of the match with a man advantage with 1:47 remaining in the game to end the scoring and force a tie.

Serbia faces host Brazil on Wednesday, while Greece will face Hungary.

Hungary 9, Australia 9

Australia’s John Cotterill fired a shot past Hungary goalie Attila Decker as the final seconds ticked down to force a 9-9 tie, one of two stunning ties that involved medal contenders.

The game was tied for much of the game, with the largest lead in the second quarter — 6-4 in favor of Hungary.

Balazs Erdelyi scored with less than two minutes remaining in the game to give Hungary a one-goal lead before Cotterill tied it at the end.

Hungary is 0-0-2 and will face Greece. Australia is 1-0-1 and will face Japan.

Brazil 16, Japan 8

The hosts made a statement with a 16-8 win over Japan on Monday, improving to 2-0.

Japan scored the first two goals of the game, but Brazil surged to eight unanswered goals to quickly put the game away. Brazil had five goals in the final six minutes of the first quarter.

Italy 11, France 8

Matteo Aicardi scored four goals to lead Italy past France 11-8 on Monday. The Italians jumped out to a four-goal lead in the first half and were able to hold off the French for the victory.

Italy improved to 2-0 in Rio and will face Montenegro on Wednesday. France dropped to 0-2 and will face the U.S.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use