U.S. Men’s Water Polo Team Stays Alive in Group B With Win Over France

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
• Schedule & Results

The U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Team notched its first win in Group B play on Wednesday, in a defensive battle against France. Team USA emerged victorious, 6-3, and improved their record to 1-2-0, while France fell to 0-3-0 in the group.

France opened the scoring in the first quarter with a goal from Mathieu Peisson with 2:03 left to play. Less than a minute later, with 1:19 to go, John Mann took advantage of a power play to put the U.S. on the board. The score was tied 1-1 at the end of the first period.

The Americans blew the match open during the second quarter when they were able to hold France scoreless while adding 4 points. Jesse Smith put one in the net at 6:31 during a power play. Joshua Samuels scored the first of his three goals at 4:48. Luca Cupido took a pass from Samuels and scored from close range to make it 4-1 to the U.S. at 2:09. With 0:12 left, Samuels scored a penalty following a Peisson foul, giving the Americans a 5-1 advantage heading off for halftime.

The third quarter featured excellent defensive play by both teams. Team USA had 7 shots either blocked or saved, while France had 5; neither team added to the tally during the period.

Samuels’ hat trick goal came at 3:30 in the 4th quarter, but was answered quickly by France’s Alexandre Camarasa and the score was 6-2 with 3:07 left to play. Ugo Crousillat added another goal for the French in a power play at 1:48; he shot from an angle and found a hole under U.S. goalkeeper McQuin Baron’s arm. The U.S. and France attempted 2 more shots each but neither found the back of the net and the score remained 6-3 as the whistle blew to signal the end of the match.

After the match, Tony Azevedo told the press, “In 2012 we were 3-0 and all of the sudden we fell apart. It was a good two wake up calls for us, today we came out with a win but a solid win. Offensively we weren’t there but we did our strength which is defense, counter attack, we stayed united and played as a team. That’s what I wanted and what the team wanted and that’s gonna get us going to the next game.”

Samuels added, “I think the energy (on defense was the difference), that was our focus, that was part of our game plan, the last two games our energy was not all the way up. Today we focused on field blocking, counter attack and it put some pressure on them.”

Game Stats

USA 6 (1, 4, 0, 1) J. Samuels 3, J. Smith 1, J. Mann 1, L. Cupido 1
FRA 3 (1, 0, 0, 2) A. Camarasa 1, M. Peisson 1, U. Crousillat 1
Saves – USA – M. Baron 11 – FRA – R. Garsau 11
6×5 – USA – 3/8 FRA – 0/7
Penalties – USA – 1/1 – FRA – 0/0