Newport Beach, Calif., June 21, 2002\u2014The USA men\u2019s water polo team topped the World All-Stars, 8-7, in its American Water Polo League (AWPL) debut at
\nNewport Harbor High School on Friday night (June 21). The two-game set in Newport Beach drew over 150 spectators in the team\u2019s last weekend of competition before next Friday\u2019s start of the FINA World League.<\/p>\n
Team USA got busy early against the World All-Stars, going up 3-1 by the end of the first quarter and 5-3 at the half. Returning 2000 Olympian Wolf Wigo looked sharp in his AWPL debut, scoring all four of his goals in the first half.<\/p>\n
The All-Stars, who never trailed by more than three goals, managed to get off several good shots in the third quarter, but U.S. goalkeeper Merrill Moses had other plans in mind. The Pepperdine alum notched seven of his tournament-leading 13 saves in the third quarter, where the All-Stars managed only one goal.<\/p>\n
The U.S. took its biggest lead of the game with 1:37 remaining in the third on a goal by Adam Wright, one of his three on the day.<\/p>\n
Wright\u2019s score with 2:55 remaining in the game provided the U.S. with an insurance goal and an 8-6 lead. Israeli left hander Gadi Hadar buried his
\nsecond goal of the night with 2:13 to play, bringing the All-Stars back to within one. But a U.S. timeout with 39 seconds on the clock kept the All-Stars from gathering themselves for a good shot. The All-Stars finally regained possession with four seconds left, but Alberto Ghibelini\u2019s shot from five-meters out was field blocked as time expired.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good victory,\u201d said U.S. head coach Ratko Rudic. \u201cThe game was played hard by both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the early game, Newport Water Polo Foundation outgunned Long Beach Shore, 18-12, on the strength of Ryan Bailey\u2019s seven-goal performance. Tony Azevedo
\nand Brian Brown notched three goals apiece for Long Beach in the loss and Genai Kerr tallied eight notches in the save column for Newport.<\/p>\n
==========================<\/p>\n
American Water Polo League action will continue tomorrow in South Orange County at El Toro High School with four games, divided into two two-game sessions. Tickets are available for $15 for two games, or $25 for all four. <\/p>\n
For more information on the El Toro games, contact Don Stoll at 949-768-6905.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Newport Beach, Calif., June 21, 2002\u2014The USA men\u2019s water polo team topped the World All-Stars, 8-7, in its American Water Polo League (AWPL) debut at Newport Harbor High School on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n