USA Men Defeat Japan; USA Women Down China On Day Two Of Pan Pacs

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 9. THE USA Men's National Team took their second straight win at the Pan Pacs with a 13-8 defeat of Japan while the USA Women's National Team opened competition with an 8-4 victory over China. Five different players scored two goals apiece in the win for the USA Men who will take on China tomorrow. Two players scored twice for the USA Women in their victory and they will meet Brazil on Tuesday.

In the men's victory Team USA went up 1-0 before Japan tied the game less than two minutes later. From there the United States scored three straight goals to go up 4-1. Japan tacked on a score late in the first period to make it 4-2 after one quarter. In the second period Japan scored first to draw within 4-3, but that was followed by three straight scores from Team USA for a 7-3 lead at halftime. Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) scored twice in the first half to help build the lead.

Japan began to rally in the third quarter scoring three straight goals to open the period to draw within 7-6 at the 4:47 mark. The United States countered with three of the next four goals to go up 10-7 at the end of the third period. Team USA put the match away in the fourth scoring three straight times to open the period taking a 13-7 lead with 1:43 left in the match on a Tim Hutten (Seal Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) goal. A late goal from Japan would not factor in the decision and the United States went on to the win 13-8. Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) went the whole way in net.

Along with Powers other scoring leaders for Team USA included Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club), Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/ NYAC), Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF), and John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC) all with two goals.

In the USA Women's victory over China, Silver Medalists from the 2011 World Championships, it was a strong first period that set the tone. A 2-0 lead after one period led to a 5-1 lead at halftime as Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/Stanford) scored twice in the half. In the third quarter China closed the gap with consecutive goals to get to 5-3 with 5:33 left in the quarter. Team USA answered with two straight goals including a Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) score with just two seconds left in the period to go up 7-3.

The United States tacked on another score to strike first in the fourth quarter for an 8-3 lead with 3:35 remaining and that would be all they needed. China scored with less than three minutes to play but it would not matter as the United States came away winners. Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan/NYAC) went the whole way in net.

Seidemann was joined as a high scorer by Heather Petri (Orinda, CA/California/NYAC) who also scored twice in the victory.

Scoring – Men – Scoresheet

USA 13 (4, 3, 3, 3) P. Varellas 2, J. Powers 2, T. Azevedo 2, R. Bailey 2, J. Mann 2, S. Buckner 1, A. Wright 1, T. Hutten 1
JPN 8 (2, 1, 4, 1)

Scoring – Women – Scoresheet

USA 8 (2, 3, 2, 1) M. Seidemann 2, H. Petri 2, L. Silver 1, M. Steffens 1, C. Mathewson 1, A. Dries 1
CHN 4 (0, 1, 2, 1)

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