Thrilling start for U.S. water polo team

The U.S. men’s Olympic water polo team, fired up for its Athens

debut, defeated Croatia, 7-6, in the opening round at the Olympic

Aquatic Centre Indoor Pool on Sunday night at the 2004 Athens

Olympics.

The U.S. pitched a defensive shutout in the first half behind a

determined stand from goalie Brandon Brooks, who was playing in his

first-ever Olympic Games, along with nine other members of Team USA

for a 3-0 halftime lead.

Croatia rallied, but Tony Azevedo had the last word as his

buzzer-beating bullet provided the winning margin.

After Croatia’s Nikola Frankovic scored to tie the match, 6-6,

Team USA went on the attack and earned an exclusion with 0:26 left.

U.S. Coach Ratko Rudic called timeout and prepped his troops for how

to approach the final 8.6 seconds. Azevedo got the call and hammered

home the game-winner to start the Games off with a bang for Team USA.

The U.S. was unable to get off any good shots until Ryan Bailey,

formerly of UC Irvine, busted through with a power-play goal at 3:59

in the second quarter. Lining up on the top right on the 6-on-5, the

two-time Olympian rocketed in the score to the high right corner, and

Team USA had a 1-0 lead in its Olympic opener.

Former UCI standout Jeff Powers scored in the second quarter to

give Team USA a 3-0 lead with just 0:04 remaining.

Team USA will play Kazakhstan (0-1) at 4:30 p.m. Athens time on

Tuesday.

* In other Olympic action Sunday involving Newport-Mesa athletes,

Japanese backstroke expert Tomomi Morita showed the way to the

semifinals in the men’s 100-meter back with the fastest time of 54.41

in front of the favorite, Newport Harbor High product Aaron Peirsol,

who had a more relaxed race in a time of 54.65 for second place.

In women’s beach volleyball, the highly touted U.S. team of Kerri

Walsh and Misty May (Newport Harbor) celebrated Walsh’s 26th birthday

with a Pool A victory over Japan’s Ryoko Tokuno and Chiaki Kusuhara,

21-9, 21-16. Despite an abdominal muscle injury that threatened May’s

participation in Athens, she and Walsh put aside any doubts that the

pair are still the favorites of the Olympic tournament.