USA Men Sink South African Team

(Photo: Jeff Cable, Jeff Cable’s Photography Blog)

While the USA Women’s Water Polo Team had their impressive 25-4 win on Saturday, July 24 in their game against Team Japan, for the Men’s team, theirs came in the second game as they took on the South Africans on Tuesday, July 27.

Veteran players are important on any team, and it was clear that some of those returning from to Olympic play in Rio were intent on making sure that Team USA continued to strive for excellence. Alex Bowen, who had an impressive five goals in the first game against the Japanese, picked up where he left off by putting the Americans on the scoreboard first. Teammate Luca Cupido gave the men a 2-0 lead with 5:10 remaining in the opening quarter. Finally, with under a minute left in the first, Ben Hallock notched the team’s third goal of the game.

Overall Team USA had attempted ten shots but only six of them made it on target. South African goalkeeper Gareth May was able to deny three. Among those that had not counted was a shot by Johnny Hooper, when on the power play, that hit the post and then the ball literally rolled over the back of May before missing the net. Had May straightened up in any way, that likely would have been a goal as well.

At the other end of the pool, Alex Wolf was not technically challenged in the opening quarter. The South Africans managed only seven shots and of those only three got to Wolf who stopped them easily. In fact, it wasn’t until the second quarter when Jason Evezard’s active shot connected with the twine behind Wolf to get South Africa on the scoreboard with 6:28 remaining.

While South Africa got on the scoreboard in the second quarter, that was also the same frame in which Team USA began to control and dominate the game with gusto. By the time of Evezard’s goal, Ben Stevenson and Hooper had already added two more to the USA side. Stevenson would put in another two goals himself in that period – going three for three with his shots during the game – and Hooper would get his second. At the end of the half, the Americans were obliterating South Africa to the tune of 12-1. In net, Wolf was making sure that the South Africans would face a wall trying to score. He saw five of their eight shots in the second quarter and stopped all but the first one that made it to him.

By the end of the half, South Africa was playing down a player as Donn Stewart had received three fouls and would watch the remainder of the game from the sidelines. May’s save percentage was down to 20% showing that USA’s men were simply more than he and his teammates could handle—which was of course evident from the score as well.

Despite winning the sprint in the third, USA did not maintain possession for very long before South Africa stole it and 17 seconds later Yaseen Margro got it behind Wolf. The look on Wolf’s face spoke volumes to his unhappiness in himself for having allowed that goal.

USA’s 14th goal, an impressive shot by Hallock, went right through the wickets of the upstretched arms of May, who seemed a bit surprised when the ball went in. It was the result of Devon Card’s third penalty—his ticket to a seat for the remainder of the game—with 5:50 left in the third. It took Hallock a mere second to put in the net.

The frustrations of the score and their inability to get shots through on Wolf were taking a toll on the South African team. Stewart sat at the end of the first with three fouls. Card joined him at 5:50 of the third. Margro would be sent out of the game at 3:25 of the fourth and Cameron Bain Laurenson reached his limit with 16 seconds remaining in the game. These players didn’t do their team any favors. Except for when Margro got his third, the other three men’s final penalty’s saw Team USA score with the extra player.

In the end Team USA put 20 markers on the scoresheet while limiting South Africa to three.

Note: If you love the photo, be sure to check out more by visiting Jeff Cable’s Photography Blog here.