Best Player: Edoardo Di Somma, Italy
Best Goalkeeper: Unai Aguirre, Spain
Best Coach: David Martin, Spain
Best Player In Final Match: Felipe Perrone, Spain
Spain 10 Italy 4 (Gold Medal)
Spain continued its international dominance, claiming its first-ever World Cup gold medal with a 10-4 defeat of Italy. The silver medal is Italy's fourth.
The reigning world champs from a year ago, Spain wasted no time with its scoring attack. In the first four minutes, its high-octane offense was perfect on power plays, converting three-of-three to take an early 4-1 advantage. Ortega Granatos notched three of his four first-half goals in that time.
The first and much-needed power play conversion for Italy came by Edoardo DiSomma in the opening minute of the second period. It was Italy's fist goal since posting the game's initial tally :19 seconds in. Italy had opportunities, but encountered trouble converting fast breaks or power plays thanks to stellar play by Spain goalie Unai Aguirre, who turned away six shots in the first half alone. He finished with 11 saves.
Italy did show signs of life late in the first half, with Fransesco DiFulvio scoring with :03 remaining before converting the first power play of the second half. It seemed like Italy was starting to chip away at the deficit as Nicholas Presciutti's goal would bring the squad within three at 7-4. But Spain would go on to rattle off three straight goals to head into the fourth quarter with a sizable 10-4 lead. Spain controlled the tempo into the fourth quarter, using up the shot clock on each possession and holding Italy without a goal.
Italy's Granatos led all scorers with four goals and Felipe Perrone Rocha finished with three.
USA 14 Hungary 13 (Bronze Medal)
In a game that saw the final 4:24 replayed due to an appeal, Team USA earns the bronze medal of the men's water polo World Cup, besting Hungary 14-13.
Max Irving restarted the game by cashing in on the re-do of a penalty shot to even the score at 13. Team USA goalie
Adrian Weinberg had two momentous saves on the next Hungary possession to preserve the tie.
The next two minutes were scoreless, but USA's
Ryder Dodd came away with a steal to set up an USA possession with 90 seconds remaining. After a power play went for naught, USA regained the ball for
Ben Hallock to break free at center and power in the game-winner with :40 remaining.
Hungary then drew an exclusion to set up a monumental power play opportunity with :20 remaining, but the shot was off the mark. USA was able to run out the clock with :11 left and seal the victory. A high-powered offensive first half saw the USA gain multiple two-goal leads, including right out the gate.
Johnny Hooper won the opening sprint and
Hannes Daube powered in the rock to start the scoring for Team USA. Two exclusions during USA's second possession gave the squad a 6-on-4 opportunity and Irving made good on the power play.
Irving was brilliant for Team USA, scoring four goals and assisting four. Daube recorded a hat trick in the first half, his third goal coming off on a cross-face catch-and-shoot in the second period. Denes Varga led Hungary's scorers with three.
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Details on replay: At 4:24 during the fourth quarter of the regulation period, Team USA drew an exclusion and a subsequent penalty shot. Hungary blocked the penalty shot and the player from the exclusion corner was waived in. The teams were then "even", even though there was :07 left for the player in the exclusion.
USA appealed; it was deemed a "correctable error" and determined to be replayed from the spot of the error.
Greece 11 Romania 8 (5th Place)
A 3-0 run in the final 3:40 sealed an 11-8 win for Greece over Romania to earn a fifth place finish in the men's water polo World Cup. Romania built a 5-2 lead after 16 minutes of play, but Greece turned it around in the second half to claim victory. Greece went to work early in the third period with Konstantinos Kakaris scoring on a power play a mere :24 seconds into the second half. Greece would rattle off two more consecutive goals to tie the game at five before Romania got on the board off a Silvian Colodrovschi counter attack goal.
Konstantinos Genidounias powered in a penalty shot goal for Romania, as the squads entered the final period tied at six. The two teams exchanged a couple of goals in the early minutes of the fourth, and Greece fired off some terrific shots but Romanian goalkeeper Marius-Florin Tic came up with monster saves to keep Romania in the game. He finished with 11 total. With 3:38 remaining in the game, Romania's Andrei Prioteasa beat the shot clock buzzer to even the tally at eight.
There was no one bigger than Drew Papanastasiou for Greece in the final minutes. After drawing a crucial five-meter penalty shot, and teammate Genidounias powering it in, Greece had a one goal advantage with 2:22 remaining. Genidounias was the game's leading scorer with four. On the next possession, Papanastasiou, who was visibly frustrated throughout the game, fired a laser from six meters out to extend his Greece squad's lead to two. Another exclusion from center gave a final power play opportunity to Greece, who found Dimitrios Nikolaidis scoring his second goal of the game, to put an exclamation mark on the final score of the game.
Serbia 15 Germany 8 - 7th Place
With a massive third period scoring outburst, Serbia defeats Germany 15-8 to claim seventh place in the men's water polo World Cup.
The Serbian offense put on a clinic in the second half, primarily the third period where they would fire off six straight, thanks in part to back-to-back goals by Marko Radulovic. Germany couldn't climb out of the 7-2 third quarter deficit. Serbia started the game strong, with Strahinja Radovic scoring two 5 meter penalty shots in the opening 1:14 of the game.
For the first half, at least, Germany went toe-to-toe with the reigning Olympic champs, chipping away in the second period, as Yannek Fabian Chiru fired deep and then Nicolas Kai Schipper cashed in on a 6-on-4 opportunity to keep within one. A score from Serbia's Vasilije Marinovic would halt Germany's three-goal run, powering home from deep with under :30 remaining in the first half.
It was all Serbia in the second half, however, outscoring Germany 10-4 to seal the victory. Serbia's Radovic, along with Nikola Jaksic and Radomir Drasovic, each scored three goals. Germany enjoyed seven different goal scorers, with Fynn Schuetze leading his team with two.
