Changing Tides 6/2/12

We just finished our series with Croatia and Hungary here in the USA. It was an exciting week for the water polo fans here. This was an opportunity to see three of the best teams in the world battle in preparation for London. Here is a recap of one of the best weeks of water polo for Team USA in many years. Last Saturday, we opened play against Croatia at Newport Harbor High School. Croatia is currently ranked 3rd in the world. On the defensive end we played well – allowing just seven goals. However, offensively we were tentative. As is often the case in these “big games” the power play is where the game is either won or lost. Unfortunately, we were very weak on our 6 on 5 (power play). In fact, we went just 2 for 13 on our 6 on 5. We had many great opportunities to come away with a victory but just could not find the back of the net. In the end, we would lose 8 – 7. Merrill Moses played very well in the cage making 12 blocks to keep us in the game. Tony Azevedo and Adam Wright led the team in scoring with two goals a piece. Ryan Bailey, Jesse Smith and Layne Beaubien scored to complete our scoring. We played well enough to win the game in every area except for the 6 on 5. Our post game meeting was spent talking about being more aggressive and confident on our 6 on 5. All I can say is that the team responded. The following day (Sunday May 27th) was historic. Another capacity crowd of 1,500 fans welcomed Hungary and the USA. The game was televised on NBC Sports. We jumped on the Hungarians from the get go to take an early 5 – 2 first quarter lead. The power play was working just fine as we scored on our first three attempts. We expanded our lead to 7 – 2 at the half as our defense totally controlled the game. Hungary closed the gap on a few occasions, however we responded each time. In the end we would come away with a 12 – 9 victory. Merrill Moses once again dominated play in the goal recording 12 saves for the day. Tony Azevedo had a huge game offensively scoring 6 goals. Jeff Powers and Peter Varellas each added two goals and Layne Beaubien and Tim Hutton scored a goal to round out the scoring. This was the first time in ten years we had beaten the Hungarians! Four days later we would meet the Hungarians again at UCLA. Knowing the Hungarians were going to come out with more energy we talked about preparing to match that intensity and begin the game strong. We jumped on them again early in the game and played very strong defensively. Merrill recorded 10 saves and we limited the Hungarians to 5 goals. This is huge considering that the Hungarians are one of the most dangerous teams in the world offensively. In the Beijing Olympic final we gave up 14 goals against them. Tonight was a different night though and once again the power play was the difference in the game. We scored on 5/8 of our attempts on the 6 on 5 while the Hungarians managed to score on just 2/8 man up situations. Once again, Tony Azevedo led the team in scoring with 3 goals, John Mann had two and Brain Alexander, Peter Varellas, JW Krumpholz and Peter Hudnut all had one goal. JW played in his first game since suffering a concussion three weeks prior. Friday night was a rematch with Croatia at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. There was standing room only at this game as the fans packed the pool deck to watch two of the medal contenders’ battle in the last game in America prior to the Olympic Games. Once again Team USA came out strong opening up an early 4 – 1 lead. However, Croatia would fight back to even the game at 4. Once again, we responded and pulled away with some solid defensive play. In the end, we would end up on the winning side of another 9 – 5 game. Our power play was strong at 6/13 while we limited Croatia to 3/10. Merrill did the job for us once again in the cage notching 9 saves including a big save on a penalty shot when Croatia had changed the momentum in the game. Tony scored twice, while Brain Alexander, Layne Beaubien, Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutton, Jesse Smith, JW Krumpholz and John Mann rounded out the scoring with one goal each. This game marked the first time since the 2008 Olympic Games that we had beaten Croatia! Obviously, it was a very successful week for Team USA. We “changed the tide” and broke some long running losing streaks against two of the best teams in the world. It had been ten years since we beat the Hungarians and four years since we beat the Croatians. Hungary has to be considered one of the favorites in London as they have won the gold at the last three Olympics and Croatia has been consistently among the top three teams in the world. It feels good to beat these teams and break these streaks. Perhaps the most important thing that we all come away with is a growing confidence that we CAN win a gold medal in London. There should be no doubt at this point. The reality is that these games are just “training” games and that all the teams will be at a whole new level at the Olympic Games, however for our team this has been an important test and we come away with a little more of that powerful belief in ourselves. In my opinion, that “belief” is one of the intangibles that is critical to our success. We must continue to work hard and grow together, for there is much to improve on. However, on this day I like the way that the tide is going. See you at the pool. Coach