Yugoslavians Edge Newport in Water Polo

Club Partizan, Yugoslavia’s top water polo club team, defeated Newport, 8-7, on Sunday at Newport Harbor High School in the first match of a two-week training tour on the West Coast.

Partizan, a team coached by Yugoslavian Olympic Coach Ratko Rudic, took an 8-5 lead on Dusan Popovic’s goal with 5 minutes 45 seconds remaining.

Newport’s Mike Evans, a former UC Irvine player, then scored his team-high third goal of the match with 4:59 remaining. George Newland scored a minute and a half later, cutting Partizan’s lead to 8-7.

Chris Duplanty, goalkeeper for UC Irvine’s 1989 NCAA championship team, had seven saves for Newport. Aleksandar Sostar had 10 saves for Partizan.