The U.S. men’s water polo team will try to rebound after suffering its first loss of the Tokyo Olympics.
Team USA takes on Hungary at 10 p.m. PT Friday. Click here to watch live coverage.
The United States didn’t trail in the match against Italy until Nicholas Presciutti put in a rebound with 1:40 remaining to give Italy its first lead of the game at 12-11, which proved to be the final margin in the preliminary match. With the loss, the U.S. fell to 2-1 and squandered an opportunity to guarantee a spot in next week’s quarterfinal. Italy improved to 2-0-1.
The U.S. jumped out to 4-0 lead, with Alex Bowen scoring two early goals.
After Italy tied it at 9-9, Max Irving and Alex Obert each scored to give the U.S. an 11-9 advantage with 5:22 remaining. Italy then scored two straight, with the tying goal coming on a penalty shot by Francesco Di Fulvio with 2:22 remaining.
Di Fulvio had five goals and Stefano Luongo added three for Italy. Bowen, Obert, Irving and Luca Cupido each had two goals for the United States.
Players with Southern California connections on the team are Alex Wolf (Huntington Beach/UCLA ), Ben Hallock (Westlake Village), Hannes Daube (Long Beach/USC), Johnny Hooper (Los Angeles), Marko Vavic (Rancho Palos Verdes/USC) and Max Irving (Long Beach/UCLA).
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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