U.S. Easily Beats Canada in Water Polo Tournament

NEWPORT BEACH — Chris Oeding and some of his teammates on the U.S. national team hadn’t played a water polo game that counted since last summer’s Olympic Games. But the U.S. team drew Canada in the opening round of the Newport International Water Polo Tournament Tuesday night and so Oeding and Co. had little trouble getting back in the swim of things.

The U.S. team took a 5-2 halftime advantage, then left the Canadians in its wake en route to a 12-3 rout in front of about 400 fans at Corona del Mar High’s Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center.

“It’s really nice to get the two points and start off with a win,” said Oeding, a former Corona del Mar High and Cal standout who was one of four American players to score two goals.

Jeremy Laster, a former San Clemente High standout and three-time All-American at Stanford, led the United States with three goals. Seal Beach’s Chi Kredell, who also hadn’t played in eight months, UC Irvine junior Ryan Bailey and two-meter man Chris Humbert, who was playing professionally in Greece and rejoined the team a week ago, added two goals each.

The United States scored its first two goals on counterattacks--the water polo equivalent of the fastbreak--but eventually settled into a patient, set offense and an aggressive defense that kept the Canadians from getting the ball to Adam Sidky. Sidky, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound two-meter man, scored all three of Canada’s goals and was kept from scoring another three only because of spectacular saves by U.S. goalkeeper Chris Duplanty.

“Defense wins championships and the guys made my job pretty easy tonight,” Duplanty said. “Coach [John] Vargas has been emphasizing that defense will be the main characteristic of this team.

“We want to put pressure on our opponents with our defense and our counterattack. We want to be the aggressor.”

That was certainly the case Tuesday night, but the Canadians are the weakest of the six teams competing here this week. Sidky scored his second goal with 3:58 remaining in the second quarter, cutting the United States’ lead to 3-2, but Kredell scored twice in less than a minute to put the Americans ahead, 5-2.

Laster then scored two extra-man goals early in the third quarter as the U.S. team wore down the Canadians.

“Things are starting to come together,” said Vargas. “We looked a little out of sync at times, but that’s to be expected.

“Our counterattack was working, but we want to work on controlling the ball. You have to control the ball at this level. We still have a lot of things to work on, but our goal is to use this as a foundation, to build from here.”

In other first-day action, Yugoslavia got two-goal performances from four players and beat Greece, 11-8, and Croatia scored four fourth-quarter goals during a 9-7 come-from-behind victory over Australia.

Newport International Water Polo Tournament

* When: Today-Sunday

* Where: Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center, Corona del Mar High, 2101 Eastbluff Drive, Newport Beach

* Today’s Schedule: Greece vs. Canada, 5 p.m.; Australia vs. Yugoslavia, 6:15 p.m.; United States vs. Croatia, 7:30 p.m.

* Tickets: $8 adults, $4 for students.

* Information: (714) 862-4052