Team USA Unable to Break Down Croatia's Impressive Shooting and Tough Defense

With rain clouds and cool breezes perpetrating the Australian summer sky, the stage seemed to be perfectly set for the battle that ensued at the Melbourne Aquatic and Sports Center today between USA and Croatia. With both teams vying for a first place bracket finish in order to automatically advance into the quarter finals, each team was looking to breakdown their opponent's game. Unfortunately for Team USA, Croatia's impressive shooting and formidable defense gave them an early lead in the first quarter that left the U.S. playing catch-up throughout the entire match.

Croatia jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter converting a 6 on 5 play at 5:37, followed by a 80.4 hm/h shot by Andro Buslje from the 7M. On the U.S.'s next man up advantage, Adam Wright sent a quick shot past goalie Vican to get USA on the board. Croatia quickly returned the goal with a right skip from the 2M center forward to bring Croatia back to a two goal advantage at the end of the first quarter.

After executing on another extra man attempt early in the second quarter, Croatia increased their goal advantage to three. USA responded with two extra man conversions by Varalles and Beaubien to bring Team USA within one of Croatia. The gap did not stay closed for long as Miho Boskovic skipped in a cross cage corner shot past Moses at 1:56 and Teo Dogas lobed one in off the bar at 1:20. For most of the first half, Team USA was unable to find a hole in Croatia's strong defense, converting only three of their 13 shots compared to Croatia's six for 12.

USA and Croatia went goal for goal in the third quarter, with Ryan Bailey driving both goals for Team USA, including a 5M penalty shot at 5:11. In the end, Croatia was able to connect while the U.S. men were plagued by missed opportunities at the goal.

"It didn't go our way today," remarked U.S. goalkeeper Merrill Moses. "Now we need to focus on our next game." With their win today, Croatia moves to the top of group b and automatically advances to the quarter finals. Ranked second in their bracket, Team USA will now go on to the second round of competition, where the winners will go into the top eight and the losers go to the classification round for places nine - 12.

In the classification rounds, there are two matches for each team with the winners of the first game going to the higher-ranked match and the losers to the lower-ranked. Based on today's results, USA Men will play Germany on Monday, March 26th at 4:00pm.

About USA Water Polo: USA Water Polo, Inc. is a non-profit corporation organized for the purpose to serve as the national governing body for the sport of water polo in the United States under the auspices of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). For more information please visit www.usawaterpolo.com.