Tokyo, Japan – August 4 – The U.S. Olympic Men's Water Polo Team came up just short against undefeated Spain, falling 12-8 in quarterfinal action at the Tokyo Olympic Games. A tight match through three quarters, Spain outscored Team USA 5-2 in the fourth on the way to the victory.
Hannes Daube scored three goals to lead Team USA with
Alex Wolf making eight big stops in net.
Team USA now moves on to the 5
th-8
th semifinal on Friday in Tokyo where they will meet the loser of Italy-Serbia. Game time and broadcast information will be shared as soon as it is available. To watch a replay of the USA-Spain match
click here. The match will also replay as part of Olympic coverage on NBCSN starting at 8pm et/5pm pt.
The first four minutes of the first quarter featured no goals as the two teams settled in. Spain struck first at the 4:25 mark with a power play goal from Felipe Perrone for a 1-0 advantage. Team USA answered thirty seconds later on a
Ben Hallock power play for a 1-1 match. Spain scored the next two to build a 3-1 advantage but the United States responded immediately. Daube got on track first with a power play and then a blast from long range to even the game at 3-3 going to the second.
Daube stayed hot to open the second quarter, hitting on a power play to give Team USA their first lead at 4-3 with 6:23 to go in the first half. Spain battled back with two straight for a 5-4 lead with 4:35 to go in the half.
Alex Bowen found the cage moments later to tie the match at 5-5. A few minutes after that
Alex Obert slammed home a shot in close on the power play to take the lead back at 6-5. Spain had the last word in the first half with a tally to tie the match going into halftime at 6-6.
In the third, defense was the name of the game as just one goal was scored. Both squads had opportunities on offense but couldn't convert outside of one goal from Spain with 6:56 to play in the quarter. That gave them a 7-6 lead going to the fourth quarter.
A pivotal moment occurred early in the fourth, following a re-entry from Team USA after an exclusion a VAR review was initiated and determined a USA player had returned to the field of play early. That gave Spain a penalty shot, which they converted for an 8-6 lead with 5:53 to play.
Luca Cupido came back less than a minute later with a power play goal to get Team USA back within a goal at 8-7, but they would get no closer. Spain scored two straight taking a 10-7 lead with 3:18 to play. Obert came back with one more goal for Team USA to make it 10-8, but Spain added two more, including an empty net goal to secure the four-goal win.
Team USA went 5/15 on power plays with no penalties attempted while Spain went 3/11 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties.
Scoring –
Stats
USA 8 (3, 3, 0, 2) H. Daube 3, A. Obert 2, L. Cupido 1, B. Hallock 1, A. Bowen 1
ESP 12 (3, 3, 1, 5) A Munarriz 2, A. Granados 2, G. Sanahuja 2, F. Fernandez 2, R. Tahull 1, F. Perrone 1, B. Mallarach 1, M. de Toro 1
Saves – USA – A. Wolf 8 – ESP – D. Lopez 11
6x5 – USA – 5/15 – ESP – 3/11
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – ESP – 2/2
