USA Men’s Water Polo Opens FINA World League Super Final With 11-8 Win Over Kazakhstan

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, June 13. THE USA Water Polo Men's Senior National Team opened the FINA World League Super with an 11-8 win over host Kazakhstan. Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) and Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) each scored three times in the victory. Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) went the whole way in net for the win. Team USA will meet up with China tomorrow.

The two squads were even in the first period, tied 4-4 headed to the second. It was in the second period where the United States took advantage, outscoring Kazakhstan 4-1 to claim an 8-5 lead at halftime. In the third it was more of the same with Team USA outscoring the opponent 2-0 to grab a 10-5 lead with one period left. In the fourth the hosts tried to rally posting three goals, but it would not factor in the decision as the United States took the 11-8 victory.

The United States went 7/9 on power plays while Kazakhstan was 5/9 on the player advantage and went 1/1 on penalty shots.

(4-4, 4-1, 2-0, 1-3)
Referees: Ni Shiwei (CHN), Nenad Peris (CRO)
FINA Delegate: Gyorgy Martin
Teams:
USA: Merryl Moses — Peter Valleras 3, Peter Hudnut, Jeff Powers 1, Adam Wright, Shea Buckner 2, Layne Beaubien 1, Tony Azevedo 3, Ryan Bailey 1, Tim Hutten, Jesse Smith, JW Krumpholz. Head coach: Terry Schroeder.
KAZAKHSTAN: Nikolay Maximov — Sergey Gubarev, Nikita Kokorin, Murat Shakenov, Alexey Panfili 3, Alexey Shmider, Vladimir Ushakov 1, Rustam Ukumanov 1, Evgeniy Zhilyayev 1, Mikhail Ruday 1, Ravil Manafov 1, Sergey Gorovoy. Head coach: Sergey Drozdov.

Extramen
USA: 7 for 9
Kazakhstan: 5 for 9

Double extra
USA: none
Kazakhstan: 1 for 1

Penalties
USA: none
Kazakhstan: 1 for 1

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