While Ferencvaros and Pro Recco bring great European water polo to audiences on the East Coast of the United States, two other national champions are on a similar mission on the West Coast.
Barceloneta and Marseille have played their first matches at the Golden Bear Invitational tournament, hosted by the University of California, Berkeley.
Both European sides convincingly defeated the Americans.
On the first day of the tournament in Berkeley, Marseille defeated the hosts, the California Bears, and Barceloneta earned a big victory over the Olympic Club. This team plays in senior competitions in the USA.
The Olympic Club has two Olympic bronze medalists on the roster (goalkeeper Drew Holland and Dylan Woodhead) and a few other players who have represented Team USA. However, the club based in San Francisco couldn’t offer a strong resistance to Barceloneta. The Spaniards recorded a 21:5 (4:3, 5:2, 3:0, 9:0) victory. As the game neared its end, Barceloneta became increasingly dominant. Vince Vigvari led the Spanish team with four goals, while his fellow countryman Gergely Burian contributed three. Alberto Munarriz, Bernat Sanahuja, Roger Tahull, Alejandro Bustos, and Biel Gomila each scored two goals. On the other hand, Colin Mulcahy scored two goals for the Olympic Club.
The home team kept up with Marseille in the second match of the tournament, but couldn’t avoid a big defeat. Marseille beat California Bears 15:7 (3:3, 5:0, 3:2, 3:2). The home side had a 2:1 and 3:2 lead in the opening quarter. Then, Marseille produced a 6:0 run to head into the second half leading 8:3 and controlled the match until the end. Thomas Vernoux and Alexandre Bouet did the damage to the Bears’ defense. Each found the net five times. Radomir Drasovic made his debut for Marseille with two goals. Other newcomers, Efstathios Kalogeropoulos and Bilal Gbadamassi, scored a goal apiece, as did experienced captain Ugo Crousillat. Alex Oprea is the only one on the team of the University of California who scored more than one goal. He sent the ball into the net twice.
On Saturday, Barceloneta will play against the California Bears, while Marseille will face the Olympic Club.
