Adrian Weinberg the Hero of U.S. Water Polo Victory

Former Cal goaltender makes two big stops in the penalty shootout win over Australia in the quarterfinals at the Olympics

United States goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Former Cal goaltender Adrian Weinberg stopped two shots in the penalty shootout to help the United State advance to the men’s water polo semifinals for the first time since 2008 with a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Australia in the quarterfinals at the Olympics on Wednesday.

Three former Golden Bears stars – Weinberg, Johnny Hooper and Luca Cupido -- were in the starting lineup for the Americans, who overcame a 5-2 deficit to pull out the win and advance to a semifinal game against Serbia.

Hooper and Cupido each scored a goal in the game, Hooper’s goal was the first U.S. goal, trying to contest at 1-1 with 5:56 left in the first period.  But Hooper was ejected from the game with a red card for throwing a punch with 33 seconds left in the second period.   That gave the Ausies a four-minute power play and the Australians outscored the U.S. 3-1 during that power play to take a 5-2 lead.

Australia led 5-3 when Aussie Milos Maksimovic attempted a penalty shot with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter.  But Weinberg stopped the penalty shot, preventing the Ausies from taking a 6-3 lead.

Weinberg made several other impressive saves in the second half, and the U.S. took a 6-5 lead in the fourth quarter before Australia rallied to go ahead 7-6.  Alex Bowen scored with 32 seconds left for the U.S. to tie the game at 7-7, sending the game into a penalty shootout.

Each team scored on its first two penalty shot attempts, but Weinberg stopped the next two Aussie penalty shots before allowing a goal on the fifth. When the fifth and final American shooter, Marko Vakic, scored on his penalty shot, it clinched the United States’ 4-3 victory in the penalty shootout.

Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Greece: Papanikolaou scored a goal, but his Greek team was eliminated by Serbia 12-11 in a riveting quarterfinal match in which two goals were scored in the final six seconds. Papanikolaou scored the first goal of the game 42 seconds into the first quarter, but he did not score again on three additional shot attempts while getting 8:27 of playing time.

Greece tied the match at 11-11 on a goal by Angelos Vlachopoulos with just six seconds left in the fourth quarter.  But Sebia won the game when Nikola Jaksic scored with three seconds remaining on a 6-meter direct shot in a free throw situation.

Papanikolaou was named the national collegiate water polo player of the year three times while at Cal (2022, 2023, 2024)

Table Tennis

Lily Zhang, USA: Zhang won one singles match and lost another in the United States 3-2 loss to Germany in the first round of the women’s team tables tennis competition on Tuesday. The Americans lost their first two matches against Germany, including Zhang’s 3-0 loss (11-6, 11-6, 11-5) to Germany’s Annett Kaufmann. But the U.S. rallied to win the next two matches, including Zhang’s 3-1 win (11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6) victory over Wan Yuan. That tied the score at two match wins apiece, but Kaufmann defeated Rachel Sung in the fifth and deciding match, eliminating the Americans.

A six-time U.S. national champion who graduated from Cal in 2018, Zhang is competing in her fourth Olympics, and Tuesday’s match may have been her final Olympics competition.  She received a lot of publicity earlier in the Olympics, when USA basketball star Anthony Edwards claimed that he could win a point against Zhang. This occurred when she and several U.S. women’s table tennis teammates met Steph Curry and Edwards shortly before the Opening Ceremonies.  Edwards later attended one of Zhang’s women’s singles matches that she won and he was seen standing a cheering.