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NANTERRE, France (AP) — Adrian Weinberg made two blocks in a penalty shootout to help the United States beat Australia 11-10 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the men’s water polo tournament at the Paris Olympics.
Hannes Daube and Alex Bowen each scored two goals in regulation as the U.S. reached the semifinals at the Olympics for the first time since 2008. Daube and Bowen also converted their penalty shots in the tiebreaker.
“It was exhausting,” U.S. attacker Marko Vavic said. “Both of us fighting for our country, each trying to get to the semifinal. It’s what we’ve been dreaming about since we were kids. Everyone put it down on the line.”
It was the third straight win for the U.S., which will play Serbia on Friday at Paris La Defense Arena. Serbia is trying to become the third men’s team to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Croatia will face Hungary in the other semifinal. Croatia beat Spain 10-8 in the first quarterfinal of the day, and Hungary edged Italy 12-10 in another game that went to a penalty shootout.
Serbia advanced when captain Nikola Jaksic skipped home a perfect shot from deep with 3 seconds left, lifting his country to a 12-11 victory over Greece.
“We finally looked like the team that came here to win it,” Jaksic said. “We didn’t give up from the first to the last moment.”
Angelos Vlachopoulos had just tied the game for Greece with 6 seconds remaining.
“In this moment, I really hope this is a dream right now, just a nightmare and I will wake up and play again,” Greece’s Dimitrios Skoumpakis said. “Every guy on this team really tried a lot. We worked very hard, but this is the sport.”
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games