USA Men Rebound With 13-6 Win Over China To Reach Fifth-Place Match at FINA Water Polo World League

NIS, Serbia, July 17. THE USA Men's National Team earned a shot at fifth place at the FINA World League Super Final following a 13-6 defeat of China, their second win over the Chinese this week. Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/NYAC) scored four goals while Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Olympic Club) and Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/Newport WPF) tallied three scores each. Team USA will meet up with either Spain or South Africa on Sunday to close out play.

A close first quarter gave way to domination by the United States. Following a 1-1 game after the first the United States turned it on in the second quarter posting four goals to grab a 5-3 lead at halftime. In the third quarter Team USA added four more goals while keeping China scoreless to snare a commanding 9-3 advantage going to the fourth quarter. In the final period China got back on the board with three scores but the red, white, and blue answered with four goals to take a 13-6 lead en route to the victory.

Along with the scores from Azevedo, Varellas, and Bailey other goals came from Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/Newport WPF) JW Krumpholz (Santa Ana, CA/NYAC) and Michael Sharf (Orinda, CA/Olympic Club). Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/NYAC) went the distance in the net stopping 10 shots.

Classification: Semi Finals 5-8
Quarters:1:1, 4:2, 4:0, 4:3
Referees: Golijanin (SRB), Pinker (RSA)
Extra Man: USA 7, China 7
Teams:
USA: Merrill MOSES, Peter VARELLAS 3, Michael SHARF 1, Jeff POWERS 1, Adam WRIGHT, Brian ALEXANDER, Shea BUCKNER, Tony AZEVEDO 4, Ryan BAILEY 3, Tim HUTTEN, Jesse SMITH, James KRUMPHOLZ 1, Andy STEVENS.
Head Coach: Terry SCHROEDER
CHINA: Weiqing GE, Feihu TAN, Zhongxing LIANG, Lijun YU, Junliang GUO, Ning PAN 1, Yang WANG, Junmin XIE, Bin LI 2, Beming WANG 2, Zhidang HAN, Nianxiung LIAND 1, Honghui WU.
Head Coach: Tianxiong CAI

Saves – USA M. Moses – 10

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