Quarterfinal 1: Croatia 10, Spain 8
Spain’s first loss in the Paris Olympics came at the worst possible time. After going 5-0 in pool play, a loss to Croatia in the quarterfinals means the gold medal favorites now cannot reach the podium.
Spain came to Paris as the only team to finish in the top 3 in each of the last three world championships. Croatia won worlds earlier this year, but went 3-2 in pool play to finish fourth in Group A.
It was all Croatia from the jump on Wednesday. The Croatians held Spain scoreless in the first quarter, and went into the half with a 6-3. Both teams scored twice in the third, and Spain outscored its opponent in the fourth, but was unable to climb out of the early hole.
Loren Fatovic, Maro Jokovic, and Konstantin Kharkov all had two goals each for Croatia. Alberto Munarriz, Alvaro Granados, and Bernat Sanahuja also all had two goals for Spain.
With the win, Croatia moves on to the semifinals and will face the winner of Italy/Hungary on Friday.
Spain will play a classification game on Friday.
Game 2: Serbia 12, Greece 11
A game-winning goal by Nikola Jaksic with two seconds remaining sends Serbia to the semifinals and keeps its hopes of a third straight gold medal alive.
Out of a timeout with 20 seconds remaining and down one, Greece’s Angelos Vlachopoulos put in the equalizer from the right side into the top left corner of the goal. Serbia got the ball back at midpool with six seconds remaining. Jaksic swam just a few yards and threw in a prayer that skipped into the goal for the win.
The match was tight all the way through. Tied 3-3 at the end of the first, Serbia took a slight 6-5 lead at the half. Greece scored four goals in the third to go into the final frame up, 9-7.
Dusan Mandic, who led all players in Paris with 20 goals in pool play, added a game-high five more for Serbia in the win. Viktor Rasovic added three goals. Dimitrious Skoumpakis led Greece with three scores, and Vlachopoulos added two.
Wednesday’s match was a rematch of the gold medal game in Tokyo three years ago, which Serbia also won.
With the win, Serbia will next face the winner of USA/Australia in the semifinals on Friday. Greece will play a classification match on Friday.
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