Americans stay unbeaten in water polo

BEIJING, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Jeffrey Powers scored three times and gave the United States a late three-goal lead Tuesday en route to a 12-11 Olympic water polo win over Italy.

The Americans joined Croatia as the only unbeaten teams in Group B after two games of the Olympic tournament.

Powers scored his final goal with 3:08 remaining to give the Americans a seemingly comfortable 12-9 advantage but they had to hang on down the stretch.

Croatia improved to 2-0 by getting past Serbia 11-8. The other Group B game saw Germany nip China 6-5. The top three from each of the two six-team groups will advance to the knockout round next week.

The Americans will next play Serbia Thursday. Serbia and Germany have 1-1 records while China and Italy are winless.

In Group A, Spain is the only unbeaten team after downing Australia 9-8. Hungary crushed Greece 17-6 and Montenegro blanked Canada 12-0.