Russia Defeats Spain in Gold Medal Game, Italy Defeats USA in Bronze Medal Game

The Russian water polo team successfully defended its 1994 Goodwill Games gold medal by trouncing Spain, 11-5, Wednesday at the Nassau County Swimming and Diving Center. Russia sprinted to a 5-0 lead within the first five minutes of the match. Aleksandr Erychov put Russia ahead 7-1 with 4:48 remaining in the first half. Spain mounted a brief rally, cutting the deficit to 7-4 with one minute left in the second quarter, but Russia pulled away for the decisive win.

"We were prepared very well psychologically for this match," said Russian head coach Boris Popov. "Our players proved that they were better tonight."

Russia's Revaz Tchomakhidze was the tournament's leading scorer with nine goals in four games. "It was a surprise to get a big lead early," he said. "Spain is a very experienced team, but we were relaxed and did what we wanted to do."

Spain's captain, Salvador Gomez, said his team was young and would benefit from the experience of playing at the Goodwill Games.

"We played a tough game, but the Russians got out to a better start than we did," Gomez said. "We would have liked to win the gold medal, but we are satistfied with the silver."

In the bronze medal match, Italy raced to a 3-0 lead after one period of play and extended the advantage to 4-0 when Alberto Ghibellini scored early in the second quarter. But the United States calmed down and trimmed the lead to 4-3 at halftime behind goals by Wolf Wigo, Brad Schumacher and Jeremy Pope.

Italy pushed the margin to 6-4 in the third period, but the United States rallied back to tie the score at 6-6 on a backhand shot from Brent Albright with 3:21 remaining in the match. Italy took a brief 7-6 lead before Kyle Kopp evened the count with 1:03 left on the clock. An ejection against the United States' Chi Kredell with 32 seconds remaining gave Italy a man-advantage and Leonardo Sottani capitalized, hitting the net with 18 ticks left on the clock.

The United States sprinted down the pool and got the ball to Brad Schumacher, who scored an apparent game-tying goal with three seconds showing on the clock, but an offensive foul was called just prior to the shot, and the goal was nullified.

"The loss was not for lack of effort," Wigo said. "The last shot was clearly a goal. It's unbelievable."

Coach John Vargas was pleased with his team's comeback, if not the outcome of the match.

"Maybe this will put some fire underneath us," he said. "It was disappointing, but the effort was definitely there."

The four teams will travel to the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., to compete in a round-robin tournament next week.