Water Polo

Marine Warrant Officer Jeremy Piasecki is walking amid the war chaos of Helmand province: bullet-riddled buildings, a terrified populace, a junked economy, a government shot through with incompetence and corruption. Naturally, Piasecki's thoughts turn to water polo. Never mind that Afghanistan is a landlocked country, or that most Afghans have never seen a swimming pool. Or that Piasecki's sport is so unknown here that there's no word for it in Pashto or Dari. Those are but trifles to the 31-year-old Marine reservist, who played and coached water polo in Southern California.

LONDON -- A little bit tired and definitely tested the last week, the U.S. men's water polo team needed a break and found a reasonable host. The U.S. beat Britain 13-7 Thursday in a preliminary match of the Olympics, taking a 7-0 lead and never facing a serious challenge after that. A first-ever gold medal for the program is still a ways from being decided, but the U.S. improved to 3-0 and moved atop Group B at the Olympic Park water polo arena. The U.S. needed a break after tight victories over Montenegro, 8-7, and Romania, 10-8.

LONDON - As Ryan Bailey recalls it, he was an 8- or 9-year-old commencing a now decades-long affair with water polo and he would peek to the side of the pool where the coach's kid stood alone, throwing a ball against a wall. As Tony Azevedo recalls it, it was a few years later when he actually jumped in that pool at Long Beach State, and most notably a then-teenage Bailey predictably threw around the interloper much like Azevedo used to toss that ball idly to himself. "I've known Tony since he was a baby," Bailey said Friday.

Third-seeded USC took a major step forward with a 12-10 victory over second-seeded UCLA in the NCAA women's water polo semifinals Saturday at San Diego. The victory marks the Trojans' first win over the Bruins in an NCAA tournament. In the final Sunday, USC (23-5) will take on top-seeded Stanford (25-2) at 5:15 p.m. at the Aztec Aquaplex. The Cardinal advanced Saturday with a 12-3 victory over fourth-seeded UC Irvine (25-7). USC's victory against UCLA (22-4) was led by four goals each from Monica Vavic and Patricia Jancso.

In South Coast League water polo: Capistrano Valley 8, Dana Hills 7--Jeff Moloughney scored four goals for visiting Capistrano Valley (16-1, 2-0), the second-ranked team in the county. Dana Hills led, 3-2, midway in the second quarter when Moloughney scored three counterattack goals in 42 seconds.

Edison 10, Cypress 2--Matt Budnick scored four goals and James Howarth had three goals, three steals and two assists for host Edison (1-0). Cody Tague had six steals for the Chargers.

Second-seeded UCLA put away Iona, 14-3, and No. 3-seeded USC dominated Princeton, 14-2, on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA women's water polo championship tournament at San Diego State. UC Irvine was an 8-6 winner over Loyola Marymount, and Pomona-Pitzer fell to Stanford, 17-5. Senior KK Clark scored four goals for the Bruins (22-3), who established a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Sarah Orozco, another senior, had a hat trick for UCLA, which moved into a semifinal match Saturday with USC (22-5)

Royal High junior Jack Kocur tied a school scoring record Wednesday in leading the Highlanders to a 19-6 rout of Agoura, Royal's 47th consecutive Marmonte League water polo victory. Kocur scored eight goals in the match at Rancho Simi pool, giving him 133 for the season and equaling Devin Hurst's school record. Royal will conclude its league schedule Friday against Thousand Oaks.

The U.S. women's water polo team completed a sweep of the competition to win the Holiday Cup tournament with an 11-8 victory over Canada in the championship match Sunday at Los Alamitos. The U.S. team rallied from deficits in the first and third quarters and outscored Canada, 2-0, in the fourth to wrap up its fifth consecutive victory in the event. Brenda Villa of Commerce scored three goals in the final. A goal by Lolo Silver of Long Beach in the third quarter gave the U.S. a 9-8 lead that it made stand.