USA Defeats China 13-6 on Day Two of FINA World League Super Final; Serbia Tops USA Men 11-5 On Day Three

FLORENCE, Italy, June 23. THE USA Men's National Team closed out group play at the FINA World League Super Final with an 11-5 loss to Serbia. Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) scored two goals to lead the USA attack. The United States now takes on a to be determined opponent in the quarterfinal round tomorrow.

Serbia came out of the gates early with a goal less than a minute into the match for a 1-0 lead. That was quickly answered by the United States when Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) found the cage for a 1-1 match. Serbia would rebound with two straights goals after that to close out the period in front 3-1. In the second period Serbia again hit early scoring at the 7:12 mark to make it 4-1. Smith came back with his first goal of the day to bring it back to two goals at 4-2 but then Serbia went on a mini three goal run to lead 7-2 at halftime.

The Serbians went up 9-2 midway through the third quarter when Smith hit again to stop their run and bring the score closer at 9-3. Serbia finished the quarter up 10-3 and was in control as the game moved to the final quarter. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) and Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) scored in the fourth quarter but it was not enough to rally back as Serbia came away winners at 11-5.

Scoring – Scoresheet

USA 5 (1, 1, 1, 2) J. Smith 2, J. Powers 1, T. Azevedo 1, R. Bailey 1
SRB 11 (3, 4, 3, 1)

Yesterday – USA Men Down China 13-6

Florence, Italy – June 22 – The USA Men's National Team got back on track with a 13-6 victory over China on day two of the FINA World League Super Final. Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) led the offense with four goals in a match that saw six different scorers for Team USA. The United States closes out group play tomorrow with a match against Serbia.

It was all USA early as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Azevedo, JW Krumpholz (Santa Ana, CA/USC/NYAC) and John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC). China roared back to tie the match at 3-3 with just 12 seconds left in the quarter. However, right as time was about to expire in the period Azevedo scored again with just one second left on the clock to put the USA ahead 4-3 going to the second.

Azevedo scored to open the second quarter and put the United States up 5-3 with 5:15 to play but China answered with a score to close back within one at 5-4. Two straight USA goals from Peter Hudnut (Encino, CA/Stanford/LA Water Polo) and Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) gave the United States some breathing room at 7-4 with 2:49 to play in the quarter. The Chinese tallied a score shortly thereafter and it was back to two goals at 7-5 moving to halftime.

In the third quarter the United States put the game away with three straights scores as Brian Alexander (Santa Ana, CA/UCSB/Olympic Club), Krumpholz, and Hudnut all connected for a 10-5 lead. China got one back at the 2:13 mark but with just six seconds remaining in the quarter Alexander found the cage to make it a five goal lead at 11-6 after three quarters. The final period saw the United States ice the match as the defense buckled down keeping China off the board and Azevedo and Mann tossed in two more goals to make it a 13-6 match which is how the game would end.

Scoring

USA 13 (4, 3, 4, 2) T. Azevedo 4, B. Alexander 2, J. Krumpholz 2, J. Mann 2, P. Hudnut 2, P. Varellas 1
CHN 6 (3, 2, 1, 0)

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