Huntington Beach, CA – June 1 – The USA Water Polo Men’s National Team opens play with the Serbian National Team tomorrow night in San Diego, California, kicking off a four game series that will culminate June 9 in Chicago, IL. Team USA Head Coach Dejan Udovicic has announced the 15 athletes that will compete for Team USA, while the Serbian Water Polo Federation has also released their list of competing athletes. The rosters for each of the four matches will be set prior to the opening sprint with athletes shuffling in and out of the line-up. See below for complete team rosters and a complete schedule. Tickets for tomorrow night’s game at UC-San Diego will be available at the door for $20. Online sales are still available for the June 4 match in Riverside, CA and the June 7 match in Lake Forest, CA. To purchase tickets, click here. USA Water Polo members receive a discount on all ticket purchases. The June 9match in Chicago, IL is sold out.
All four matches will be streamed live via USA Water Polo TV at YouTube.com/USAWP with Greg Mescall on the call. In addition, live scoring of each game will be provided via The FOSH. Interested parties can access live stat links below or by clicking here.
Four-time Olympian Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) leads Team USA into action and is joined by Olympic veterans Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC), Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) and John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC). The rest of the roster features some of the best current and recent college grads along with a host of rising talent on the men’s water polo scene. The Tuesday night match in San Diego will serve as a homecoming for three athletes on Team USA as Smith, Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC), and Justin Parsons (Coronado, CA/California/Olympic Club) all call the San Diego area home and are elgible to compete.
The series serves as a tune-up for both teams who will be competing in the FINA World League Super Final later this month in Bergamo, Italy. For Team USA this also leads up to three qualification opportunities for the 2016 Olympic Games. The FINA World League Super Final (winner), the Pan American Games (winner), and the FINA World Championships (top three).
2015 USA-Serbia Schedule – Live Streaming
June 2 – UC-San Diego – 7pm Live Stats – Tickets available at the door $20
June 4 – Riverside Aquatics Complex – 7:30pm – Live Stats – Purchase Tickets
June 7 – El Toro High School – 5pm – Live Stats – Purchase Tickets
June 9 – University of Illinois, Chicago – 7:45pm – Live Stats – SOLD OUT
2015 USA-Serbia Series Rosters
Team USA
Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC)
McQuin Baron (North Tustin, CA/USC/United)
John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC)
Alex Obert (Loomis, CA/Pacific/Sac Polo)
Ben Hallock (Studio City, CA/Harvard Westlake/Bruin)
Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC)
Jackson Kimbell (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/Newport)
Alex Roelse (Maarssen, Netherlands/UCLA/Bruin)
Josh Samuels (Villa Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC)
Nikola Vavic (Palos Verdes, CA/USC/Trojan)
Janson Wigo (Ft. Lauderdale, FL/Stanford/Olympic Club)
Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
Luca Cupido (Newport Beach, CA/California/Newport)
Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
Justin Parsons (Coronado, CA/California/Olympic Club)
Bret Bonanni (Huntington Beach, CA/Stanford/Stanford)
Head Coach: Dejan Udovicic
Asst. Coach: Jack Kocur
Team Leader: Rick McKee
Team Serbia
Gojko Pijetlovic
Dusan Mandic
Zivko Gocic
Sava Randelovic
Dusko Pijetlovic
Slobodan Nikic
Milan Aleksic
Strahinja Rasovic
Filip Filipovic
Andrija Prlainovic
Stefan Mitrovic
Bransislav Mitrovic
Nikola Jaksic
Gavril Subotic
Nemanja Ubovic
Viktor Rasovic
Swimming news courtesy of USA Water Polo.
Love that these are all going to be live on youtube, Thanks USAWP. Going to be a great test for USA, they pass the first part of the test.
Just change the name from USA National Team to Team California (USA)