By Eric Velazquez<\/p>\n
Humbert\u2019s Overtime Mindbender Sends Croatia to Seventh Place Game<\/b><\/p>\n
Sydney, Australia\u2014Every water polo player takes their fair share of dings and dents. No one knows that more so than U.S. two-meter sensation Chris Humbert, whose battles in the trenches earn him a few more elbows and kicks than some. This week, Humbert has played with a sore wrist, although you couldn\u2019t tell from the 10-meter rocket that he launched toward the net in USA\u2019s classification game with Croatia on Saturday night (Sept. 30).
\nHis low-flying, high-speed projectile ended up finding the back of the net at the conclusion of overtime play, sending the U.S. into tomorrow\u2019s fifth-place match with Italy at 12:45 p.m. at Ryde Aquatic Center.
\nThe U.S. had lost to Croatia, 10-7, in the opening game of the preliminaries and was eager to get back in the pool after a disappointing loss to Russia
\nyesterday. It was a see-saw game that saw Team USA squander three-goal leads on two occasions, including in the last quarter of regulation. But the two overtime periods proved to be just the remedy for what had ailed them. That, and some heroics from Humbert, of course.
\nThe U.S. led 3-0 to start the game, but were caught at 3-3 with 5:29 to play in the third quarter on a goal by Igor Hinic. Humbert helped regain the American lead, burying a blind backhand from set a minute later on a pass from Tony Azevedo. Azevedo would add to that lead with 2:51 to go, triple pumping, then firing past Croatian goalkeeper Sinisa Skolnekovic on a 6-on-5
\nplay.
\nInsurance goals from veterans Chris Oeding and Gavin Arroyo early in the fourth quarter sent the U.S. up by three again, this time at 7-4. However, three unanswered Croatian scores caught the U.S. at 7-7 with 1:46 remaining in regulation. Neither team was able to convert for the duration, and the game went to overtime.
\nIn the first overtime frame, Wolf Wigo netted his 15th goal of the tournament to give the U.S. an 8-7 advantage. It looked as if Team USA was going to be walking off with a win in the second overtime period, but a goal by Croatia\u2019s Ognjen Krzic crushed that vision with nine seconds left.
\nHumbert then got the ball at midtank and subsequently met and fouled by a host of Croatian caps with 1.4 seconds on the clock. Realizing that he was above the seven-meter marker, meaning that he could shoot directly at the goal, Humbert swiveled and fired a bullet at Skolnekovic. He dodged it. <\/p>\n
Humbert\u2019s shot went high right and in, and the U.S. went home a winner. \u201cIt felt good,\u201d he said of his last shot. \u201cBut I thought I was going to miss
\nit by the way it came out of my hand.\u201d <\/p>\n
The U.S. will now move on to play Italy in tomorrow\u2019s fifth place game. \u201cThis was a good win,\u201d said head coach John Vargas. \u201cWe let them back in the game a couple of times, but did what we needed to in order to win. Tomorrow, we\u2019ll need a good 28 minutes of water polo to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the Pool:<\/b><\/p>\n
Croatia was one of two teams that was shorthanded on Saturday. Along with Italy, Croatia found itself suffering a personnel shortage after the FINA Bureau handed down five suspensions Saturday.<\/p>\n
Italian coach Ratko Rudic, the famed coach who won three straight golds for two different countries between 1988 and 1992, was suspended for one year
\nfor \u201cbringing the game into disrepute.\u201d This announcement was handed down as a result of Rudic\u2019s confrontation with referees after his team\u2019s quarterfinal loss to Hungary yesterday. Three of his players, Francesco Attolico, Roberto Calcaterra, and Alessandro Calcaterra, were also suspended as a result of similar actions following the game. Attolico, the starting goalkeeper and team captain, was given a one-match suspension, while brothers Roberto and Alessandro were handed four- and one-match suspensions, respectively.<\/p>\n
Despite the absences, Italy won its classification match versus Australia, 8-4.<\/p>\n
Croatian sensation Dubravko Simenc was also out of the pool against America tonight, having been slapped with a one-match suspension for a \u201cpost-match\u201d incident following his team\u2019s loss to Spain yesterday.<\/p>\n
Tidbits:
\n–USA\u2019s Wolf Wigo scored three goals in the team\u2019s win against Croatia on Saturday night, and is now second among the tournament\u2019s scoring leaders with 15 total. Only Yugoslavia\u2019s perennial scorer Aleksandar Sapic has more.<\/p>\n
–The last time the U.S. met up with Italy was on August 4, 2000 in the Italian Trophy Tournament in Genoa, Italy. Italy won, 12-7, assisted by the absences of Wigo and Humbert, both of whom were sidelined by injury.<\/p>\n
–Dan Hackett is still tops in goal in the save column. So far, the Irvine native has hauled down 66 of 121 shots faced. (54.5% efficiency)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Eric Velazquez Humbert\u2019s Overtime Mindbender Sends Croatia to Seventh Place Game Sydney, Australia\u2014Every water polo player takes their fair share of dings and dents. No one knows that more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6554,7743,449,105,477,556,185,2174,478,6568,7745,7746,1748,6553,554,1691,480,178,141,1657,1499,7748,584,479,1335,5857,6574,147,7505,7744,531,7747,45,7749,3671,62,532,559,2248],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-aleksandar-sapic","tag-alessandro-calcaterra","tag-america","tag-australia","tag-chris-humbert","tag-chris-oeding","tag-coach","tag-croatia","tag-dan-hackett","tag-dubravko-simenc","tag-eric-velazquez-humbert","tag-famed-coach","tag-fina-bureau","tag-francesco-attolico","tag-gavin-arroyo","tag-genoa","tag-goalkeeper","tag-head-coach","tag-hungary","tag-igor-hinic","tag-injury","tag-insurance-goals","tag-italy","tag-john-vargas","tag-polo","tag-ratko-rudic","tag-roberto-calcaterra","tag-russia","tag-ryde-aquatic-center","tag-sinisa-skolnekovic","tag-spain","tag-starting-goalkeeper-and-team-captain","tag-sydney","tag-the-italian-trophy-tournament","tag-tony-azevedo","tag-united-states","tag-water-polo-player","tag-wolf-wigo","tag-yugoslavia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n