USA, Italy Men March Through World University Games Water Polo Pool Action

World University Games Water Polo

• July 2-14, 2019
• Naples, Italy
• Time: UTC +2; 6 hours earlier than ET
• 10 Teams Per Gender
• Preview
• Results

After six days of pool play, the six teams per gender are through to the quarterfinal round, while the remaining four will face off for the final two spots on Tuesday.

Men

On the men’s side, the United States and Italy led the way coming through their four matches undefeated at 4-0. The Americans outscored their foes 70-22, while Italy bested its opponents 67-39.

Also earning spots in the quarterfinals from Pool A were Russia (3-1) and France (2-2).

In Pool B, Hungary was the runnerup at 3-1, followed by Croatia (2-2).

The top individual goal scorers in the pool play round were:

• Italy: Giacomo Cannella (20 goals)
• Hungary: Tamas Gyarfas (17)
• Croatia: Marin Delic (16), Antonio Buha (13)
• Japan: Kohei Inaba (15), Kiyomu Date (12)
• Russia: Ivan Vasilev (13)
• USA: Tyler Abramson and Jacob Cavano (12 apiece)

Standout individual match performances during the pool play came from:

• Russia got the competition off to a smashing start, racking up 25 goals on Great Britain (25-1), including six from Ivan Vasilev, five from Emil Zinnurov and four from Ivan Gusarov.
• The United States followed with a 30-3 win over Korea as Alex Rossman put in six goals and Tyler Abramson and Bennett Williams added five apiece.
• Croatia’s Antonio Buha notched five goals, while Franko Lazic and Marin Delic added four each in a 17-9 victory over Australia.
• The top single-game scorer of the tournament thus far came from Giacomo Cannella, who found the back of the net eight times as Italy cruised past Japan 22-11. Kohei Inaba led Japan with four goals.
• Great Britain defeated Korea 17-9 behind a five-goal effort by Daniel Paddon and four scores from Jordan Elliot.
• Australia outscored Japan 8-6 in the second half of a 15-14 win. Angus Lambie led the Aussies with five goals in the game, while Inaba and captain Kiyomu Date scored five times each for the Japanese.
• 10 players scored for France as the team blanked Korea 22-0. Alexandre Bouet and Iliya Mustur paced the effort with four goals apiece.
• Jacob Cavano scored five times and Jacob Ehrhardt added four goals as the USA won 17-3 over Great Britain.
• France’s Charles Canonne found the back of the net five times, but it was not enough as the French fell to the USA 10-8.
• Russia used Korea as its whipping boy, posting a tournament best 31 goals (31-3 win). Nine players scored for the Russians with N Krug matching a tournament-high with eight goals, followed by Gusarov (5), Vasilev (4), Daniil Merkulov (4) and Zinnurov (4).
• Croatia’s Branimir Herceg and Japan’s Toi Suzuki put in five goals each in a 19-18 Croatian win. Croatia outscored Japan 10-8 in the second half to secure the victory.
• Hungary’s Tamas Gyarfas netted six goals among nine scorers in the team’s 18-6 win over Australia.
• Italy’s Cannella notched five goals and Croatia’s Marin Delic matched the effort as Italy edged out its foe for a 14-13 win. The Italians built an 11-7 lead and held on despite the Croats outscoring them 6-3 in the final stanza.

Pool A

• USA 4-0
• Russia 3-1
• France 2-2
• Great Britain 1-3
• Korea 0-4

Pool B

• Italy 4-0
• Hungary 3-1
• Croatia 2-2
• Australia 1-3
• Japan 0-4

Men’s Pool Play Results

Upcoming Slate

Facing off in Thursday’s Round of 16 will be Great Britain (1-3 from Pool A) and Japan (0-4 from Pool B) and Korea (0-4 from Pool A) and Australia (1-3 from Pool B). The winners will advance to face either Russia or Hungary in Wednesday’s quarterfinal round.