NANTERRE, France (AP) — The U.S. men’s water polo team has been overshadowed by the country’s dominant women’s program for more than a decade.
The men are looking to make their own noise at the Paris Olympics.
Hannes Daube, former Orange Lutheran and USC standout, and Max Irving, a former Long Beach Wilson and UCLA star, each scored three times to lead the United States to a surprising 14-11 victory over Croatia on Monday on the final day of group play.
The Americans improved to 3-2 at the Games with their second straight win. They finished third in Group A, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with Australia on Wednesday.
“We need to be focused. The job’s not done,” U.S. attacker Luca Cupido said. “We are where we want to be, in the quarterfinal. It doesn’t matter who is on the other team. We’re going to come ready for the next game.”
The U.S. men finished sixth at the Tokyo Games. While the American women are going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Olympic title, the men are trying for the program’s first medal since a silver in 2008.
“Every team is different. This team had the luxury of being together through one Olympics and retaining the majority of the players,” Cupido said, “so we have built some camaraderie that we are showing now on the defensive end.”
Konstantin Kharkov scored five times for Croatia, which won gold in 2012. Loren Fatovic had three goals.
Croatia is looking to become the fourth team to win Olympic gold as the reigning world champions. But it is off to a shaky start, also losing to Italy in group play.
The U.S. grabbed control in the first half. Irving, Daube and Ben Hallock scored during a 3-0 run that lifted the Americans to a 10-3 lead with 2:42 left in the second quarter.
Croatia clawed all the way back to 13-11 on goals by Kharkov and Fatovic in the final minutes. But Alex Bowen scored from deep from 1:10 to go, helping the U.S. hold on.
