United States beats Canada to clinch Men’s Water Polo title: 2011 Pan American Games, Guadalajara
The Men’s water polo team of United States presented a great show and thrashed out Canada’s team to seal the 2011 Pan American Games Men’s water polo title with a decisive margin of seven to three goals at Scotia Bank Aquatics Centre, on Sunday, October
30.
The final match between USA Men’s water polo team and Canadian water polo crew started off in lethargic fashion, as both the teams were unable to score a single goal over each other’s net until 3 minutes and 04 seconds of the match. Peter Hudnut of United
States broke the shackles by scoring a unique goal over rival’s net, taking a lead of 1-0.
In the meantime, Canadian Men’s water polo team made a strong comeback and scored a goal over USA’s net to draw the match by 1-1. Then, United States’ best performer in the pool, T. Azevedo played to the expectations of his team by scoring a thrilling goal
to take a lead of 2-1. Despite the lead, the match was again drawn at 2-2 goals each by Canada.
Afterwards, T. Azevedo and Jesse Smith stunned the Canadian water polo team by scoring two goals to ensure a 4-2 lead before the end of the first-half. More importantly, USA Men’s water polo team did not lose their thrust in the second-half, as their defence
was tight, not allowing the Canadian athletes to find a single opportunity over their net.
The American squad was able to build a lot of pressure on their Canadian competitors, as T. Azevedo claimed his third goal and a total fifth score of the match for USA’s team, as they took a lead of 5-2.
Things got worse for Canada in the fourth phase of the match, as they were unable to put up any resistance against their challengers. On the other hand, US strikers, Tim Hutten and Jeff Powers produced two more stunning goals, taking a lead 7-2 lead for
their team. In the end, Canada got a penalty which they capitalised on, reducing the defeat margin to 7-3.
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