USA Men’s Water Polo Falls to Croatia, Serbia Wins 11th Super Final Title

Photo Courtesy: Jared Gray/USA Water Polo

The USA Men’s Water Polo team continued with its ups and downs of the FINA World League Super Final in the tournament’s last two matches.

After a shootout loss and victories over Kazakhstan and Russia, the team added two more losses to their tally, despite a rally with Olympic Champions Serbia in the semi-finals. The Americans finished fourth overall in the tournament.

Serbia won their fifth-straight FINA World League Super Final title, and their eleventh in history. They beat Italy 10-9 in the final match.

June 24

Ruza, Russia – The USA Men’s National Team pushed Serbia to the limit in the semifinals of the FINA World League Super Final before falling 13-11 in a shootout. Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and Alex Roelse (Maarssen, Netherlands/UCLA/Bruin) scored two goals each in regulation and McQuin Baron (North Tustin, CA/USC/Regency) had a big day in net with 17 saves. Team USA will now take on Croatia in the bronze medal match on Sunday at 7:20am et/4:20am pt.

The two teams were scoreless in the first quarter before erupting for a combined seven goals in the second with Team USA taking a 4-3 lead going into halftime. The two sides were even in the third quarter scoring two goals apiece to leave the United States ahead 6-5 going into the final eight minutes of regulation. In the last period Serbia outscored Team USA 3-2 to force the shootout.

In the shootout, Serbia was perfect as all five shooters connected. Team USA made just three of four shots including goals from Bowen, Roelse and Matt De Trane (Moraga, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC). Serbia shot first and after they connected on their fifth attempt the match was complete.

The United States thrived on the power play in this match going 7/11 while Serbia was 3/9 with neither side attempting a penalty. All four games played today in the semifinal round went to a shootout.

“It was a very physical game. Both teams (had their chances) to go for the win. It is a big step for our team as we played Serbia pretty well, and it shows that our young guys have good prospects. It’s great to see that in such a game against the best team in the world we can come out and stay competitive. There was a lot of swimming and battling in the game, (overall) very spectacular,” said Roelse.

Scoring

USA 11 (0, 4, 2, 2) (3) A. Bowen 2 (1), A. Roelse 2 (1), M. De Trane 1 (1), J. Hooper 1, B. Hallock 1, T. Dunstan 1
SRB 13 (0, 3, 2, 3) (5)
Saves – USA – M. Baron 17
6×5 – USA – 7/11 – SRB – 3/9
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – SRB – 0/0

June 25

Ruza, Russia – Just a day after nearly toppling Olympic champ Serbia in a shootout loss, the USA Men’s National Team came up short in the bronze medal match of the FINA World League Super Final, losing to Croatia 10-4. Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC) scored two goals to lead the offense with McQuin Baron (North Tustin, CA/USC/Regency) and Drew Holland (Orinda, CA/Stanford/Lamorinda) splitting time in net to record six saves. Team USA now gears up for the FINA World Championships where they will open against Croatia on July 17 in Budapest, Hungary. For full results from the Super Final, click here.

Croatia took control of this match early going up 5-1 after the first quarter in the fifth meeting between these two teams this month. Croatia outscored the United States 3-1 in the second quarter and were in command at halftime ahead 8-2. The scoring slowed for Croatia in the second half as they scored just one goal in the third and fourth quarter, matching the output from Team USA. That was more than enough to secure the six goal victory.

The United States went 2/6 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot while Croatia was 4/4 on the advantage and 1/1 on penalty shot attempts.

Scoring

USA 4 (1, 1, 1, 1) A. Bowen 2, J. Hooper 1, N. Carniglia 1
CRO 10 (5, 3, 1, 1)
Saves – USA – D. Holland 4, M. Baron 2
6×5 – USA – 2/6 – CRO – 4/4
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – CRO 1/1

Press releases courtesy of USA Water Polo

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