U.S. Water Polo Team Plays Tonight at El Toro High

Continuing its preparation for the Barcelona Olympics, the U.S. National water polo team will play host to the Alamo Cup tonight and Saturday.

The United States plays Canada in the opening match at 6:30 tonight at El Toro High School. A match between Italy and the Commonwealth of Independent States will follow at 8.

The tournament will move to Corona del Mar High on Saturday for the third-place and championship matches at 3:30 and 5 p.m., respectively. The teams who haven’t competed against each other will play Sunday at UC San Diego.

In three exhibitions against the Commonwealth team in the past week, the U.S. team won one, lost one and tied one.

The Americans finally broke through Wednesday with a 10-5 victory at Corona del Mar. After being shut out in six six-on-five situations in a 5-4 loss Sunday at UCLA, the U.S. team converted all seven of its man-up opportunities Wednesday.

“It was important because we had been struggling the first couple of games,” U.S. Coach Bill Barnett said. “The first game we didn’t play well and we tied them, and in the second game, we played better and still lost.”