USA polo squad to host Italy Dec. 28

The USA Water Polo Men’s Senior National Team will return to action later this month for an exhibition match against the Italian Men’s National Team.

The teams will meet at 2 p.m. on Dec. 28 at Newport Harbor High, 600 Irvine Ave, Newport Beach.

It was announced earlier this week that Team USA and Italy will meet in a second exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Dec. 30 at Pomona Pitzer Colleges.

Nolan McConnell of Laguna Beach is on the Team USA roster.

The Dec. 28 exhibition game is the first for Team USA since its fourth-place finish at 2014 FINA World Cup. The Italian National Team is the 2012 Olympic silver medalist and 2011 FINA world champion.

Tickets for the match are available at https://www.usawaterpolo.com.

USA Men’s National Team Roster:

Nolan McConnell (Laguna Beach/Long Beach St.); Bret Bonanni (Huntington Beach/Stanford); Tony Azevedo (Long Beach/Stanford); Jesse Smith (Coronado/Pepperdine); John Mann (Newport Beach/California); Janson Wigo (Ft. Lauderdale, FLA./Stanford); Josh Samuels (Villa Park/UCLA); Alex Bowen (Santee/Stanford); Alex Obert (Loomis, CA./Pacific); Conner Cleary (Goleta/Stanford); Jackson Kimbell (Long Beach/Stanford); Luca Cupido (Newport Beach/California); Anthony Daboub (Newport Beach/UCLA); Nikola Vavic (Palos Verdes/USC); McQuin Baron (North Tustin/USC); Drew Holland (Orinda/Stanford); Ben Hallock (Studio City/Harvard-Westlake).

— From staff reports