U.S. Team Again Defeats Yugoslavia in Water Polo, 9-6

Circumstance dictates that guys such as Chris Duplanty and David Imbernino have to judge every match they play with the U.S. water polo team by two scores.

One is the final score, such as Tuesday’s 9-6 victory by the United States over Yugoslavia at Newport Harbor High School. Duplanty, a goalie, had nine saves. Imbernino, a driver, scored three goals.

It was the third victory in three games by the United States over Yugoslavia in this six-match series. The teams will play tonight at UC San Diego.

But Tuesday’s match marked the first contributions in this series by Duplanty and Imbernino, who know that the team will be reduced by four players--two field players, two goalies--for the Seoul Olympics. So what matters as much as what shows on the scoreboard is what’s on the face of Bill Barnett, the U.S. coach.

“You can only try your best and hope you impress him enough,” Imbernino said. “But I don’t think doing well in one game is going to clinch a spot for me.”

Barnett, who also coaches at Newport Harbor High, was giving nothing away after Tuesday’s match. Flashing his best Cheshire cat grin, he would only say that Duplanty and Imbernino “didn’t hurt their chances” Tuesday.

Barnett used all 15 field players remaining on the team and said the Yugoslavian series will serve to tell which players work best as a team. In fact, Barnett called Tuesday’s victory “a pleasant surprise,” considering the number of substitutions.

For Duplanty, who plays at UC Irvine, Tuesday was his big chance. Craig Wilson, a veteran of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, is the team’s No. 1 goalie. Which means three others, including Duplanty, will fight to be Wilson’s back-up.

Barnett has decided to give each prospect an entire match to prove himself during this series against Yugoslavia. Duplanty’s audition seemed a rousing success. Of the six goals scored against him, three were on power plays. Another was scored on a four-meter penalty shot.

It was Duplanty who helped turn around the match in the third quarter with long outlet passes, as the United States outscored Yugoslavia, 4-1.

“You just can’t judge your performance by blocks and saves,” he said. “This team lives by its counter-attack. You’ve got to be able to get the ball out to them. I was pretty happy about they way I did it.”

Imbernino’s three goals were the first he has scored in this series. Imbernino, who is from Newport Beach, played at Stanford, where he helped the Cardinal to 45 consecutive victories and a pair of NCAA championships. In 1985, he was named the NCAA’s co-most valuable player.

Despite those credentials, he is just another guy trying to make the plane to Seoul.

“You can do really well in college, but when you take the step up to this type of competition, you’re low man on the totem pole,” he said. “I was pretty happy about the way things went today.”