Yugoslavia’s Sostar Is Too Tough for the United States in 4-3 Loss

Chris Humbert leaned over and interrupted Yugoslavia goalie Aleksandar Sostar in mid-sentence.

“You were very lucky today,” Humbert said, smiling. “Everything we shot hit you in the hands. You’re too old to stop anything else.”

High praise.

Humbert and the U.S. water polo team had just spent Sunday trying to figure out Sostar.

Their conclusion?

A pretty good goalie.

The 36-year-old Sostar stopped 15 shots in Yugoslavia’s 4-3 victory in the UPS International Cup in front of 2,000 at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Sostar stuffed Humbert’s back-hand attempt 50 seconds into the game. The rest of the game went that way.

The U.S. missed its first 15 shots and was held scoreless until Chris Oeding scored with a man-advantage with 5 minutes 56 seconds left.

Even when the U.S. made its move, Sostar was there to blunt the rally. He blocked Wolf Wigo’s penalty shot that would have pulled the U.S. within 3-2 with 4:54 left. He made a one-handed save on an Oeding shot that would have tied the score, 3-3, with 2:36 left.

Sostar got some help. Predrag Zimonjic blocked a Tony Azevedo shot that would have tied the score with 1:10 left. The U.S. never got the ball again.

“[Sostar] has been playing internationally forever,” Humbert said. “He knows how to read shooters. Obviously he is one of the best in the world because he is on the national team at his advanced age. I can say that, because he’s my friend.”

People weren’t joking about Sostar’s age in 1996. He was excluded from the Olympic team because Yugoslavian officials felt he was too old.

After a seventh-place finish at the Olympics, Sostar started looking pretty spry to those same officials.

“This has been very satisfying to me,” Sostar said. “Very satisfying. I am not too old to win a gold medal.”

For proof, all one needed to do was watch Sostar in the last week. He gave up 18 goals in five games.

“He has been a top goalie in the world for 15 years,” Aleksandar Sapic said. “His experience makes us a better team.”

It did Sunday.

Yugoslavia lost Sapic, the tournament’s scorer with 12 goals, four minutes into the game. He suffered a ruptured right eardrum while tangling with Gavin Arroyo.

With Sapic out, the Yugoslav offense slowed to a paddle. But the U.S. offense was sinking.

“I’ve said it before, everything we do is as a team,” Sostar said. “It’s important that the defense does its job and communicates. Everyone did very well today.”

In other games, Croatia defeated Australia, 7-5, in the third-place game, and Italy defeated the U.S. B team, 9-1, in the fifth-place game.