Serbia hands USA its first water polo loss

BEIJING, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Serbia clamped down defensively Thursday and handed the United States men's Olympic water polo team its first loss of the Games 4-2.

It was the lowest scoring Olympic men's water polo contest since Australia beat Greece 4-2 in 1980.

"It was a pretty defensive game," said American center back Jeffrey Powers. "We had a bad shooting day. Both teams were tired and sluggish on their shots."

The United States managed only one goal over the first three periods and saw their record in Group B fall to 2-1. The Americans are tied with Serbia for second place behind unbeaten Croatia, which meets the United States on Saturday.

The top three teams from each of the two six-team groups will advance to the knockout round.

Croatia advanced to 3-0 with a 13-5 whipping of Germany and Italy rounded out play in Group B with a 19-7 smashing of China.

In Group A, Montenegro and Hungary remained tied for the top with 2

Montenegro, which has emerged as a water polo power, defeated Greece 10-6 and Hungary downed Spain 8-5. Australia was an 8-5 winner over Canada.