USA Water Polo Men’s National Team and Serbia End Three Game Set With 13-13 Tie

PALO ALTO, California, June 7. THE USA Men's Senior National Team and Serbia battled for the third and final time at a jam packed Avery Aquatics Center on the campus of Stanford University earlier today, and for the second day in a row the game ended in a draw. This one saw a high scoring affair end at 13-13 thanks to a Jeff Powers goal with under a minute remaining. The tie leaves Team USA with one loss and two ties against Serbia.

The game got off to a very patriotic start as an equipment malfunction led to the nearly 2,000 spectators singing the Star-Spangled Banner a capella. From there the game was underway and Serbia struck first with a goal just over two minutes in the contest. Team USA answered that as Stanford grad Peter Varellas scored back to back goals to give the United States a 2-1 lead. After that fellow Cardinal alum Thomas Hopkins lit the proverbial lamp and Team USA was in control 3-1. Serbia struggled on power play opportunities early, failing on their first three attempts, but answered the call at the 2:59 mark of the first as Stefan Mitrovic scored to close within 3-2.

In the second quarter Serbia came back to tie the contest when Milan Aleksic ricocheted a shot in off the post for a tie game at 3-3. Justin Johnson worked down low to draw a five meter penalty which Adam Wright then converted and just like that USA was back in front 4-3 with 4:20 to go in the half. Serbia scored consecutive goals to lead 5-4 with just 2:53 remaining in the period. From there it was time for another Varellas goal as the lefty put one in the corner pocket to tie the game at 5-5. Brian Alexander than drew another five meter penalty for Team USA which was converted by JP MacDonnell and once again Team USA was in front 6-5. They built on that lead on a beauty of a goal from Ryan Bailey as he redirected a pass into the cage for a 7-5 advantage. Serbia scored one last time in the period to go down just a goal 7-6 at halftime.

In the third quarter Serbia would tie the game when Marko Aramovic put one past Merrill Moses for a tie game at 7-7. Jesse Smith skipped one in a minute later for Team USA and it now USA in the lead at 8-7. The see-saw battle rolled along with Filip Filipovic hitting for Serbia for another tie score at 8-8. Thomas Hale then took the lead back for Team USA on a man advantage with a score at the 2:53 mark in the period for a 9-8 lead. Serbia would have the last word in this quarter connecting from out in front of the cage on a player advantage to again tie the score at 9-9.

The final stanza got started with Serbia retaking the lead at 10-9, thanks to a goal by Dusko Pijetlovic, but that was short lived when Smith went bar down for the score to tie the game at 10-10. It looked as if Serbia might pull away when they scored two straight goals to go up 12-10 at the 3:57 mark. That was countered by another strong goal off the hand of Bailey and then Wright using a nifty pass to hit on a man advantage. With the game in the balance tied at 12-12, Serbia answered again with a goal from Petar Filipovic to lead 13-12.

As the game wound to a close the United States had one last answer when Jeff Powers worked inside to get free on a player advantage and found the net with just: 59 seconds left. That however would be the final score for both teams as each had an opportunity to answer to no avail. Moses was stellar in net for Team USA turning aside seven shots while Slobodan Soro and Gojko Pijetlovic combined for five saves for Serbia.

Next up for Team USA will be the FINA World League Super Final in Montenegro.

Scoring:

USA 13 (3, 4, 2, 4) P. Varellas 3, R. Bailey 2, J. Smith 2, A. Wright 2, T. Hopkins 1, T. Hale 1, J. MacDonnell 1, J. Powers 1
SRB 13 (2, 4, 3, 4) D. Pijetlovic 4, Mitrovic 3, Prlainovic 1, F. Filipovic 1, Z. Gocic 1, M. Aramovic 1, M. Aleksic 1, P. Filipovic 1

Saves – USA – M. Moses 7 – SRB – S. Soro 4, Pijetlovic 1

Penalties – USA 2/2 – SRB 0/0

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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