World Water Polo Championship: U.S. men lose to Italy, lose in quarterfinals
The United States suffered its third loss in four games Sunday, losing a 13-12 decision to Italy in the crossover round of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.
The loss means the United States will not win a medal at the world championships. The Americans missed out on a spot in the quarterfinals, falling to a tournament to determine the rankings from 9th to 12th place.
On Sunday, the U.S. led by two points in the first quarter, but trailed by as many as three early in the fourth and tied the game at 10 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left.However, by the goal Eduardo Di Somma and Francesco di Fulvio After the timeout, Italy regained a two-goal lead.
johnny hooper The Americans were within one point, but Di Somma scored his second goal of the game to make it 13-11. Two turnovers and two blocked shots. alex bowen’s The goal with 14 seconds remaining only narrowed the gap to 13-12, and the Americans never thought about tying the score again.
Di Fulvio led the Italian team with three goals and three assists. andrea fondelli He scored 2 points. Lorenzo Bruni Added 2 goals. marco del lungo Stopped 8 shots.
Hannes Daub He led America with four goals. Bowen scored a hat trick.with hooper rider dodd Dodd each scored two goals and added two assists. max irving Recorded 3 assists. Adrian Weinberg I stopped 10 shots.
The U.S. made only 1 of 12 action shots, but 9 of 14 on the power play. They held Italy to just 2 of 7 on power play chances.
The U.S. will face Australia in the semifinals on Tuesday at 9-12. China and Romania are also included in that couplet.
In addition to Italy, Montenegro, France and Croatia advanced to the quarterfinals with victories.
Montenegro, who defeated the United States in the group stage, fell behind by three points to Romania in the first quarter, but took control in the second quarter and won 12-9. Miroslav Perković and Kanstantin Averka Each shot 3-for-3. Alexa Ukropina He recorded 2 goals and 3 assists. Pesar Tesanovic Stopped 13 shots.
Croatia defeated China 22-4 and easily made it through to the qualifying rounds. Marco Bijac He made nine saves as Croatia maintained a 12-1 lead after the break. Konstantin Kharkov He completed 4 of 4 shots and had 4 assists. Lauren Fatovich achieved a hat trick, Marco Zubera (2 goals, 6 assists) Franco Lazic (2 goals, 4 assists) All 11 players scored, and 8 of them scored multiple goals, making it a productive day.
France defeated Australia 11-8 and outscored Australia 5-2 in the second half. Alexandre Bouet He scored 4 goals. Hugo Cursilla Scored 2 goals and 3 assists, thomas vernoux He recorded 2 goals and 2 assists. nick porter He held Australia to 12 saves.
Italy defeats Greece in the quarterfinals. Spain will play Montenegro. Serbia will play Croatia and Hungary will play France.