ORADEA, Romania — Freshman Diego Tresa (Rome, Italy/Istituto Santa Maria) of the Fordham University men’s water polo team struck for a pair of goals as Italy defeated the Netherlands, 16-11, in both teams’ second game of Group A competition at the 2025 U18 European Championship in Oradea, Romania.
The victory improves Italy to 2-0 in as many days at the event as the Italians turned back Greece, 14-9, on Monday, August 18, thanks to man-up and penalty shot scores from Tresa.
Facing the Dutch, Italy fell behind 2-1 and 3-2 in the first quarter prior to rallying back in the final two minutes of the frame to pull ahead by a 4-3 count. Tresa netted the go-ahead score as the incoming Ram cashed in a counter-attack chance with one second left in the opening eight minutes to stake his team to a one-goal margin.
The Netherlands rallied back to tie the score at five-all prior to halftime as the Dutch posted a 2-1 scoring advantage in the second quarter.
Trailing 6-5 with 7:23 left in the third quarter, the Italians utilized a 3-0 run to acquire an 8-6 lead with 3:38 on the clock.
The Netherlands chipped its deficit down to 9-8 prior to the conclusion of the third quarter, but Tresa ignited a 4-0 outburst to commence the fourth quarter by rifling home a center shot 24 seconds into the final eight minutes (7:36) to make it a 10-8 contest. Back-to-back-to-back strikes at 6:03, 5:30 and 4:46 expanded the gap to 13-8 prior to a Dutch answer at 4:23 put the Hollanders within four at 13-9. Following back-to-back markers to stretch the spread to 15-9 with 2:48 left in regulation, the Italians refused to allow the Netherlands within less than five goals over the game’s remaining duration to claim a 16-11 victory.
Through two games, Tresa has four goals with man-up, penalty, counterattack and center shot tallies.
The 14-team tournament featuring Greece, Serbia, Spain, Hungary, Montenegro, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Malta, France, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine and Poland runs from August 18-24.
Tresa and the Italians will conclude Group A competition on Wednesday, August 20, against Hungary at 8:30 p.m. local/12:30 p.m. Eastern.
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