The USA men lost their first match of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final on Thursday as three-time defending champions Serbia pulled out to a 7-4 halftime lead en route to a 10-8 win. The USA still finished second in their group and will be facing Australia in the quarterfinals on Friday. Alex Bowen and Ben Hallock each had two goals for the US but their leading scorer through two games, Tony Azevedo, was only able to grab one. Merrill Moses had six saves while McQuin Baron had just two. Brazil beat China 4-2 in a penalty shootout after an 11-11 tie in the other Group B match.

Australia went 1-2 in Group A and lost to Greece 10-5 and Italy 14-7. The US and Australia met in the final of the Intercontinental Qualifying Tournament last month with the US winning 10-9. They met in the group stage of that event as well and the US narrowly won 8-6. The possible semifinal opponents for the US are Greece and China. The knockout round trickles all the way down to a 7th/8th place game so the US will have games each of the six days in the tournament.

USA Schedule:
Tuesday – Group B – USA 12-6 China
Wednesday – Group B – USA 10-7 Brazil
Thursday – Group B – USA 8-10 Serbia
Friday – Quarterfinals – USA vs. Australia
Saturday – Semifinals – USA vs. TBD
Sunday – Final – USA vs. TBD

Previous FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final Coverage:
Preview
China Recap
Brazil Recap