As for this day it was an impressive outing for the United States as they got down early but rallied for an impressive win. Croatia started the scoring with a goal just 90 seconds into the match to go up 1-0. That was answered some three minutes later when USA captain Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA) ripped the net for a score and a tie game at 1-1. Croatia's Teo Dogas scored his second goal of the game shortly after Azevedo's during an exclusion for the United States and it was a 2-1 lead for Croatia. Azevedo would have the last word in this quarter as he came back on a Croatian exclusion and again found the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2 headed to the second.
In the second quarter the USA defense started to take over. It has been running on all cylinders since the Serbia game and continued early in this quarter as a Croatia power play was plundered by the United States. Then a little over a minute later Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA) took a dish from Adam Wright (Seal Beach, CA) on a player advantage and buried the shot cross cage for the first USA lead at 3-2. The momentum started to build when less than thirty seconds later at the 3:26 mark Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA) drew a five meter penalty which Wright converted for the 4-2 advantage. The lead mushroomed to 5-2 when reigning Cutino Award winner Tim Hutten (Seal Beach, CA) put a shot off the post, off the goalies back, and into the cage. Croatia tacked on a late goal in the period but the United States remained in front at 5-3 at intermission.
The third quarter was a defensive clinic by both teams as not a single goal was scored. Croatia drew a player advantage later in the quarter but that again was foiled by the United States defense. Goalie Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA) impounded 11 shots on the day while the team tallied 5 field blocks. The defense carried over to the start of the fourth as Wright came through with a huge field block to help shutdown a Croatian possession. Things became dicey when Croatia drew to within one on a nifty backhand goal out of set by Mile Smodlaka at the 5:44 mark in the fourth. A minute later Azevedo answered, off a restart he rose up and buried his third goal of the game to give some breathing room back to the United States at 6-4.
This was short lived when a USA exclusion led to Croatia finding the net and again pulling to within one at 6-5. The game breaker for the United States would come on a power play at the 1:33 mark when Bailey rolled inside and took a feed from Wright to put the game away. Team USA went up 7-5 and their stingy defense shut down remaining efforts by Croatia. The United States did the job in 5x6 holding Croatia to 4/10 while in 6x5 USA converted 3/9. This is the second consecutive victory over Croatia for the United States as they defeated them 8-5 back on May 31 in Thousand Oaks, CA. Next up is a huge match with Germany on August 18 at 2pm at the Ying Tung Natatorium.
Flash Quotes:
"The exhibition win over Croatia was a good stepping stone for us as we had to have that belief we could win. That was a good starting point and put that seed in their minds that we could beat them here. This is huge, we haven't been able to win these big games in the past and we did today." - Terry Schroeder, Head Coach - U.S. Olympic Team for Women's Water Polo
Scoring:
- USA: 7 (2,3,0,2) T. Azevedo 3, R. Bailey 1, P. Varellas 1, A. Wright 1, T. Hutten 1
- CRO: 5 (2,1,0,2) T. Dogas 2, M. Jokovic 1, M. Smodlaka 1, S. Barac 1
6x5 - USA - 3/9 - 1-1 penalties CRO - 4/10
