Olympic Men’s Water Polo: Adrian Weinberg, Hannes Daube Lead U.S. to Quarterfinal Berth
Adrian Weinberg backstopped a stellar defense with 13 saves, and Hannes Daube scored five goals as the United States downed Montenegro, 12-7, Saturday to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics.
The U.S. led 7-2 at half and never looked back, holding Montenegro to 7-for-32 shooting (22 percent) and 0-for-9 on the power play.
The win evens the U.S.’s record at 2-2 head into its final group stage game on Monday against Croatia. The U.S. can finish no worse than fourth in its group, guaranteeing a place in the final eight.
Daube led the offense on 5-for-7 shooting. He had a first-half hat trick, and Ben Hallock added two goals in the second quarter. Ryder Dodd and Max Irving had two goals each, Irving adding three assists, as did Luca Cupido.
Bogdan Djurdjic led Montenegro with three goals.
The U.S. is fourth in Group A. Croatia is second after edging Greece, 14-13, behind a seven-goal third quarter. Jerko Marinic Kragic scored a hat trick in that quarter to help Croatia erase a two-goal halftime deficit. He added two assists.
Konstantin Kharkov led Croatia’s offense with four goals. Loren Fatovic had a hat trick. Marko Jokovic dished five assists to go with his goal. Toni Popadic stopped 11 shots.
Ioannis Fountoulis led Greece with two goals and two assists. Efstathios Kalogeropoulos, Alexandros Papanastasiou and Stylianos Argyropoulos scored twice apiece.
Italy remains atop Group A after swamping Romania, 18-7. Italy shot 60 percent for the game (18-for-30), led by three goals and five assists for Andrea Fondelli. Matteo Iocchi Gratta and Francesco Condemi had hat tricks.
Spain solidified its hold atop Group B with a 23-8 pasting of Japan. Spain led 10-2 at half, shooting 61 percent overall (23-for-38) and 58 percent on action shots (18-for-31).
Alvaro Granados led the way with four goals and four assists. Bernat Sanahuja was a perfect 5-for-5 shooting. Roger Tahull scored four goals.
The best came of the day came first, Australia rescuing a two-goal deficit in the final six minutes to beat Hungary, 9-8.
Nathan Power scored twice in the fourth quarter, once to make it 8-7, then the game-winner with 46 seconds left. Blake Edwards and Milos Maksimovic scored twice each, and Nic Porter stopped nine shots.
Krisztian Manhercz accounted for half of Hungary’s offense with four goals. Maron Vamos dished three assists.
Serbia’s offense was clicking on all cylinders in a 15-8 win over France. All 11 players scored. Strahinja Rasovic had two goals and three assists, Dusan Mandic two and two. Milos Cuk added a goal and three helpers, and Nemanja Ubovic and Radomir Drasovic scored twice each.
