US men’s water polo loses big lead over Greece, falls to second in group
The U.S. men’s water polo team lost 15-14 to Greece on Friday, sending the Americans to second place in their group at the World Championships in Fukuoka and a crossover match to reach the quarterfinals.
The United States went 2-1 in three matches in Group A. It will face Canada, third in Group B, for one of eight quarterfinal spots. (The four group winners have already qualified for the eight-team round of 16.) The match against the United States will take place at 2 p.m. Fukuoka time, 1 a.m. on the East Coast.
United States. I had a chance to avoid that fate, taking a 9-4 halftime lead. But Greece dominated them 7-3 in the fourth quarter to come back strong, thanks to a goal of Alexandros Papanastasiou with one second left, the Greeks were undefeated in the group.
The United States led 13-10 with 4:50 to play. But Papanastasiou tied it at 13 with 1:56 left. Max Irving allowed the United States to regain the lead with a power play goal 30 seconds later, but Efstathios Kalogeropoulos tied the Greeks again with 61 ticks remaining. Hannes Daube missed a direct shot to give the United States the lead, and with Luca Cupid excluded, Papanastasiou struck again to decide it.
Papanastasiou scored four goals, as did Konstantinos Genidounias. Stylianos Argyropoulos scored a hat trick.
Irving was outstanding for the United States with six goals. Daube scored four times. Ben Hallock added two goals. Adrian Weinberg made eight saves.
Greece joins Italy, Hungary and Spain in the last eight. Australia meets France, Croatia takes on Montenegro and Japan and Serbia will battle it out in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
