USA Men's Water Polo Team Upsets Reigning World Champ Croatia

The Americans face Australia in the quarterfinals at the Paris Oympics, riding moment toward a special performance.

Johnny Hooper / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Cal alums Johnny Hooper and Luca Cupido each scored once and the USA men’s water polo team upended reigning world champion Croatia 14-11 on Monday to close out group play at the Paris Olympics.

USA (3-2) will face Australia (3-2) on Wednesday at 10 a.m. PDT in a quarterfinal game as knockout play begins. USA finished third in Group A and the Aussies played second in Group B.

“We need to be focused. The job’s not done,” Cupido said. “We are where we want to be, in the quarterfinal. It doesn’t matter who is in the other team. We’re going to come ready for the next game.”

The Americans controlled the match against Croatia, building a 10-3 lead in the second quarter and taking an 11-7 edge into the fourth period.

According to the USA water polo website, the American had won just five of previous 30 meetings vs. Croatia, dating back to 2008.

The Americans are positioned to improve on their sixth-place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Games. USA has not won an Olympic medal in men's water polo since a silver-medal finish in 2008.

“Every team is different. This team had the luxury of being together through one Olympics and retaining the majority of the players,” Cupido said, “so we have built some camaraderie that we are showing now on the defensive end.”

Hannes Daube and Max Irving each scored three goals for the Americans and Alex Bowen and Ryder Dodd each had two. Adrian Weinberg, who anchored Cal’s three most recent NCAA championships, had nine saves in goal for USA.

Konstantin Kharkov scored five goals for Croatia (3-2), whose only previous defeat in Paris was a 14-11 loss to Italy. Croatia’s quarterfinal opponent is Spain (5-0), the only remaining undefeated team in the Olympic tournament.

Greece 9, Italy 8: In the final game of preliminary Group A, the Greeks moved to the top spot in the standings after a game-winning goal by Ioannis Fountoulis with 2:53 left in fourth period.

The Greeks (4-1) will face Serbia (2-3) in Wednesday’s 6:35 a.m. PDT quarterfinal knockout match. Previously undefeated Italy (4-1) faces Hungary (3-2).

Former Cal star Nikolaos Papanikolaou, a five-time All-American playing in his first Olympics, was in the pool for just 5 minutes, 26 seconds for Greece without a shot or a goal.