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Paris, France – August 3 – The U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Team came up with a crucial victory, defeating Montenegro 12-7 to secure a spot in the quarterfinal round at the Olympic Games with one group match left. Hannes Daube scored five goals in the win to lead the offense while Adrian Weinberg recorded 13 saves in the victory. Next up for Team USA is a meeting with Croatia on Monday at 6:30pm local time/12:30pm et/9:30am pt in the final match of group play. Team USA now holds a 2-2 record and with six points can finish no worse than fourth in the group. The match will air LIVE on USA Network and stream on Peacock. Click here for more broadcast details. Click here for more on USA Water Polo at the Paris Olympic Games.Â
Team USA struck first on a Ryder Dodd goal but the lead was short-lived as Montenegro answered right back to tie the game at 1-1. At the 5:12 mark Daube hit on the first of his five goals and gave Team USA a lead they would never relinquish. With under four minutes to play it was Max Irving scoring to make it 3-1 and then it was back to Daube for a natural goal with two minutes left for a 4-1 edge. The momentum kept rolling for the United States as early in the second quarter it was Ben Hallock delivering out of two meters for a 5-1 edge. Montenegro stopped the run not long after and made it a 5-2 game with 6:15 to play in the half. It wasn’t long before the USA offense came calling again, first up was Daube on a penalty shot and Hallock on a try in close for a 7-2 lead going into the break.Â
Montenegro made their push in the third quarter running off three straight goals to climb back into the match, trailing 7-5. Team USA weathered that storm and scored three of the next four to build an 10-6 edge. Daube, Alex Obert and Ryder Dodd all contributed to create a strong cushion as action moved to the fourth. There was more Daube in the fourth as he got things started with a penalty shot goal, one of three on the night for Team USA, to make it 11-6. Montenegro clawed one back but Irving put a bow on this one, drilling an outside shot with under four to play on the way to the 12-7 win.
Team USA went 3/10 on the power play but was perfection on man down, holding Montenegro to 0-9. The United States also went 3/3 on penalties while Montenegro had no attempts. Â
Scoring – Stats
USA 12 (4, 3, 3, 2) H. Daube 5, R. Dodd 2, M. Irving 2, B. Hallock 2, A. Obert 1
MNE 7 (1, 1, 4, 1) B. Durdic 3, M. Mrsic 2, V. Radovic 1, M. Perkovic 1
Saves – USA – A. Weinberg 13 – MNE – D. Lazovic 6, P. Tesanovic 2
6×5 – USA – 3/10 – MNE – 0/9
Penalties – USA – 3/3 – MNE – 0/0Â Â