London, England - August 8 - The U.S. Olympic Men's Water Polo Team and their quest for a second consecutive Olympic Medal was halted by Croatia in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympic Games with an 8-2 loss. Winners of the Silver Medal in the 2008 Olympic Games, Team USA never got on track offensively as they fell behind 5-0 at halftime and struggled on power plays going 1/15. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) and Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) scored for the United States while Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) recorded 10 saves in net. Team USA will now play for fifth place starting with a semifinal match against Spain on Friday, August 10. Game time and television coverage are to be announced.

It was close early on with each team's defense containing the other until Croatia broke through with a power play strike at the 5:07 mark for a 1-0 lead. They followed that up with another extra man score with 2:41 to go, taking a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Croatia opened the second period on a six on four advantage as a result of exclusions concluding the previous period and took advantage finding the net for a 3-0 lead. Croatia kept building less than three minutes later with another power play score for a 4-0 lead. They closed out the first half scoring with a fifth power play goal, the second of the day for Paulo Obradovic, and Croatia led 5-0. The United States had chances following that fifth goal but failed on three consecutive power plays to close the half, leaving Croatia with the five goal lead.

In the third things started to click for the Americans as they put together back to back goals from Bailey and then Varellas, on a power play, to draw within 5-2 with 3:30 remaining. Croatia responded with a power play goal at the 1:39 mark to go ahead 6-2. They would add another score with just four seconds remaining in the period for a 7-2 lead. An odd sequence then followed. Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) took a final shot to close out the period, only to have it blocked by a Croatian defender with two hands. This resulted in a penalty against Croatia. Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) took the shot for Team USA but was ruled over the five meter line and his goal was disallowed. All of that commotion left Croatia with a 7-2 lead after three periods.

Both offenses were quiet in the final period until Croatia added one last score, a power play with 4:23 left, to go up 8-2. Team USA looked to put together a run, but subsequent opportunities were to no avail and Croatia advanced to the semifinal with an 8-2 victory.

Notes: Team USA went 1/15 on power plays and 0/1 on penalties while Croatia was 6/12 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot. Along with two goals from Obradovic, Damir Buric and Miho Boskovic also scored twice to lead Croatia in scoring. Obradovic was rolled from the game in the second half for talking back to the officials. The semifinals have been set for the tournament with Croatia taking on Montenegro and Italy meeting Serbia. Three-time defending champion Hungary was defeated by Italy 11-9. They take on Australia in the other fifth place semifinal match.

Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 2 (0, 0, 2, 0) P. Varellas 1, R. Bailey 1
CRO 8 (2, 3, 2, 1) P. Obradovic 2, D. Buric 2, M. Boskovic 2, S. Sukno 1, S. Barac 1
Saves - USA - M. Moses 10 - CRO - J. Pavic 12
6x5 - USA - 1/15 - CRO 6/12
Penalties - USA - 0/1 - CRO 0/0