Victory Confidence Builder for U.S.

The U.S. national water polo team will head into the Pan American Games later this week with some renewed confidence after a solid effort Sunday in the UPS International Cup.

Team USA finished third in the eight-team tournament at Corona del Mar High with a 6-4 victory over Yugoslavia.

Russia, which had lost to the U.S. in pool play, won the championship with a 7-6 victory against Italy.

“I thought we’d come back strong like we did,” Team USA Coach John Vargas said. “We wanted to come out of this tournament on a high note, and we did that.”

The Americans’ only loss in five tournament games was by one goal to Italy in the semifinals Saturday. Russia also finished 4-1, and Italy was 2-2-1. The U.S. begins play in the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg Friday against Colombia. It will be the first opportunity for the U.S. to qualify for the 2000 Olympics. “This [tournament] shows how competitive it is between the top teams in the world right now,” U.S. team captain Chris Oeding said. “One of our goals for this tournament was to play with consistency, and we did that except against Italy.”

The U.S. made a big improvement on defense Sunday after a lackluster effort against Italy, and had enough offense to get past Yugoslavia.

U.S. goalkeeper Dan Hackett, a two-time All-American at UCLA, had eight saves. Hackett finished the tournament with 47 saves and was chosen as the top goalie.

Tony Azevedo, a 17-year-old senior at Long Beach Wilson High, scored two goals in the second quarter to help the U.S. to a 4-3 halftime lead. Robert Lynn added one goal in the third quarter, and Oeding connected with about two minutes left in the game to give the U.S. a two-goal advantage.

Azevedo had been scoreless in six shots in the loss to Italy, but was two of four against Yugoslavia.

“I had a lot fewer shots, but when I got them I was able to hit them this time,” Azevedo said. “I didn’t shoot that well yesterday. We needed some better shooting out front. Today we moved the ball around a lot better.”

Azevedo also was pleased with his defense. “I felt like they were testing me a lot to see if I could play defense,” Azevedo said.

Azevedo scored both his goals in man-advantage situations, but the U.S. was only four of 11 overall on power plays. “We still need to be over 60% in six on five,” Vargas said.

In the championship game, Nickolai Kozlov scored three goals to lead Russia. Leonardo Sottani scored two goals for Italy. Italy missed a chance at a tie when a shot with two seconds left hit the top of the cage and bounced off.