WATER POLO / ALAMO CUP : Goalie Plays His Hunch, Leads U.S. Team Past Italy
Even for Craig Wilson, the world’s best water polo goalkeeper, it was a seemingly impossible situation.
Four meters in front of Wilson, goalie for the U.S. national team, Italy’s Paolo Petronelli bobbed with the ball, waiting to attempt the penalty shot that could tie the score late in the match.
But Wilson had a hunch, and when Petronelli tried to score in the lower-left corner of the net, Wilson got there first and deflected the ball to U.S. defender Doug Kimbell.
“I had a feeling it was going to go there,” Wilson said. “Before he took the shot, I told Doug, ‘He’s going to shoot to my left, be ready for the rebound.’ ”
Coming less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Wilson’s save stopped Italy’s rally and proved to be the key play in the Americans’ 9-7 victory in the championship match of the Alamo Cup Saturday at Corona del Mar High School.
The 14-man U.S. team, which, after one cut to be made in about a month, will compete in the Barcelona Olympics. The United States finished second to Yugoslavia in the 1984 and ’88 Games, but last summer won the FINA World Cup in Barcelona, the Americans’ first major international championship in the modern era.
On the whole, U.S. Coach Bill Barnett was pleased with his team’s performance Saturday. The United States built a 7-3 lead, converting on five of six 6-on-5 situations, in the first half.
But Barnett said he was perturbed by his team’s breakdowns in the third quarter, which allowed Italy to trim a four-goal lead to one on three consecutive goals.
After Wilson’s save, however, the U.S. defense tightened and Wilson, who had 10 saves, didn’t allow anything to get by him in the quarter. Terry Schroeder scored the Americans’ only goal of the quarter on an assist by John Vargas with eight seconds remaining.
Notes
The United States will play the Commonwealth of Independent States, a 10-2 winner over Canada in the third-place match Saturday, at 1:30 today at UC San Diego. Italy and Canada will play at noon.
