Serbia Edges U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo 4-2 In Defensive Battle

Beijing, China - August 14 - Missed opportunities were the sentiments of the U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo post match as they lost a tight 4-2 contest with Serbia at the Ying Tung Natatorium, their first defeat in Group B play. The loss drops the team to 2-1 in play with powerhouse Croatia looming on Saturday. Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA) was the lone man to score for the United States as they struggled against the Serbia defense. Defensively, the United States turned in a stellar effort holding the Serbs to just four goals including none in the first quarter.

The opening period was a defensive stalemate as neither team could find the net. Team USA goalkeeper Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA) who would go on to finish with 11 saves on the day helped keep the Serbia offense at bay. In addition team defense was top notch for the United States with defenders swarming to the ball on every Serbian possession. In the second quarter Serbia broke through with a goal some thirty seconds into the period on a player advantage and led 1-0. They would score again following another USA exclusion at the 3:00 mark and it was a 2-0 lead.

USA would have a chance to get within one as Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA) drew a five meter penalty but Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA) was unable to convert and the deficit remained at two. About a minute later following a Serbia exclusion Varellas would score his first of the day drawing his squad to within one at 2-1 as he buried the shot into the far corner. It was 2-1 in favor of Serbia coming out of the halftime when Dusko Pijetlovic was able to sneak inside and set up right in front of the cage where a pass was delivered for the easy score. Serbia led 3-1 and would make it 4-1 with a score with just :52 left in the period on a USA exclusion.

In the fourth quarter the USA tried frantically to rally but were unable to score until 1:20 remaining in the game when Varellas connected following a Serbian exclusion. After this goal the United States continued to pressure the ball but were unsuccessful in continuing a rally and came away with a 4-2 loss. Struggles on the power play doomed the United States as they went 2/7 while Serbia was 3/5. Defensively the United States has come along way against Serbia allowing 14 goals to them in February, seven in June, and now just four on this day. They take on Croatia at 12:10pm local time on Saturday.

Flash Quotes:

"The game played to our favor, we talked about going end to end on this team and keeping it low scoring and we were in it the whole way, we had our shot. It was a game we should have won, maybe we were a little tentative and rushed our shots early. That said in these big games we have to make these shots if we want to compete for a medal. You need to win the 6x5 and 5x6 battle and today we lost." Terry Schroeder - Head Coach - U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

"Overall we are trying to build in the tournament, but today we didn't quite get it done on offense. We are going right back to work for Croatia and I think we match up better with Croatia than we do with Serbia." Peter Varellas - Attacker - U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

"Today I felt we controlled most of the game, we just didn't put the ball in the net." Peter Hudnut, 2M Defender - U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

"Croatia is playing as good as anyone here. I think we match up well with them and having beat them in May we know we can win. It will be a good test for our team to see how we bounce back from a loss like that, it's been a problem with this team in the past but I think we are over that." Terry Schroeder - Head Coach - U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo

Scoring:

USA: 2 (0,1,0,1) P. Varellas 2
SRB: 4 (0,2,2,0) V. Vujasinovic 1, A. Sapic 1, D. Pijetlovic 1, V. Udovicic 1

Saves - USA - M. Moses 11 - SRB - S. Soro 13