U.S. Team Pays for Its Mistakes

The harder the U.S. national team tried, the easier it became for Yugoslavia at the U.S. Cup at Newport Beach water polo tournament Friday. Yugoslavia’s strong counterattack took advantage of several American mistakes on offense to win, 10-8, at Corona del Mar High.

“Some guys were trying to be heroes and take that big shot and it surprised us, we weren’t ready for that,” U.S. Coach John Vargas said. “So what happens on that, they go the other way and score.”

The United States had taken a 7-6 lead on Ryan Bailey’s goal early in the fourth quarter but quickly gave up two counterattack goals by Yugoslavia. After Vladimir Vujasinovic slammed a shot through the fingers of U.S. goalkeeper Dan Hackett to give Yugoslavia a three-goal lead with 1:25 remaining, the U.S. could only hope for another chance at Yugoslavia in Sunday’s gold-medal game.

“If we stick to our systems, our offense will be fine,” Vargas said. “With a team like Yugoslavia, it’s OK if we don’t get a good opportunity to shoot, then we’ll dump the ball and that’s fine. We’ll try to get back into our offense by playing good defense.”

In addition to some questionable shot selection, Vargas also said the U.S. team was guilty of risky passes that led to turnovers and counterattacks by Yugoslavia.

“We were trying to go for that touchdown pass or we take an ill-advised shot and that hurts us going the other way,” Vargas said. “We want one good attack per possession. We’re not going to have three or four attacks, we’re not going to try and score three goals in one possession.”

The U.S. was particularly hurt when it turned the ball over early in some possessions or when it had a man-advantage.

“Our bad offense led to some counter goals and opportunities by them,” said Wolf Wigo, who led the U.S. with three goals. “A couple times we threw the ball away right at the beginning of the shot clock, right when we came down and set up, and not everyone was ready for a turnover and they took off on us.”

Until Yugoslavia scored four consecutive goals to take control in the fourth quarter, neither team had led by more than a goal.

Yugoslavia scored first, but the U.S. answered with goals from Chi Kredell and Wigo to take a 2-1 lead. Yugoslavia tied the score on a goal by Aleksandar Sapic with nine seconds remaining in the first quarter, then ahead, 3-2, on a man-advantage goal with 4:18 left in the half.

Brad Schumacher scored off a nice pass from Chris Oeding with 45 second left in the half to tie the score, 4-4. Both teams scored twice in the third quarter, and Bailey’s goal early in the fourth gave the U.S. its last lead, 7-6.