Brush Gets First Start, but Yugoslavia Defeats U.S. in Water Polo, 10-9

SAN DIEGO — Jeff Brush sat bobbing in the goal, trying simultaneously to stop a fourth-quarter offensive onslaught by Yugoslavia and impress the United States water polo coach, Bill Barnett.

Brush scored a slight victory in the latter but got a little help from his teammates to make a difference in the former.

Yugoslavia scored four goals in the fourth quarter, including three in a two-minute span, to defeat the United States, 10-9, Wednesday in an exhibition match at UC San Diego’s Canyonview pool. The victory halted a three-match winning streak by the Americans, who are ranked third in the world. The United States won the first two matches of the series by one goal and then scored a 9-6 victory Tuesday over top-ranked Yugoslavia, the defending Olympic and world champion.

Although the Americans lost, the match was a slight victory for Brush, the youngest player on the American roster at 22. Brush, from Cupertino, is one of three goalies vying for the final goalie position on the team that will participate in the Olympic Games at Seoul. Veteran Craig Wilson is the No. 1 goalie for the U.S. team.

Brush, who led California to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title as a junior this past season, was trying to take advantage of his first start of the six-match series against Yugoslavia, and he played the entire match.

“A lot of the balls kind of slimmed in,” Brush said. “It got real frustrating. I was hoping for more.”

So was Barnett, but not necessarily from Brush.

“He did good,” Bennett said. “It’s kind of hard with those guys cranking up at five meters. It’s hard for any goalie to stop them.

“I think our defense broke down in the fourth quarter. I was a little disappointed because we had a lead (7-6) going into the final quarter.”

Yugoslavia started the fourth quarter by winning the opening sprint for the first time in the match. The United States won the sprint in the first three quarters, scoring off its first possession in the first two quarters and its second possession in the third.

With the U.S. team leading, 8-7, Vaselin Djuho scored from eight meters on a skip shot to tie the match with 4:01 remaining. Jeff Campbell then scored his second goal of the match for the final U.S. lead with 3:11 left.

But Djuho scored again 26 seconds later as he lobbed a shot just over Brush. Yugoslavia scored the winning goal at 2:08 on another skip shot by Denni Lusic.

The teams will meet again Friday at 7 p.m. at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach and then will complete the series with a 4 p.m. match Saturday at Pepperdine.