SIBENIK, Croatia, August 22. THE USA Men's Junior National Team opened play today at the FINA Men's Junior World Championships with a 7-6 defeat of Spain. Josh Samuels (SoCal) led the offense with four goals while John Sibley (Lamorinda) did the job in net posting 11 saves.<\/p>\n
The first quarter was dominated by strong defense from both teams. The USA scored the only goal of the quarter when Nikola Vavic (Trojan) capitalized on a penalty shot at 4:32 drawn by Griffin White (SoCal) on a drive.<\/p>\n
Trailing 1-0 Spain answered early in the second with a counter goal by Carrillo at 6:42. The rest of the quarter was a defensive struggle until Samuels scored an outside shot with just eight seconds left in the quarter. USA held Spain to 0\/4 on extra man in the first half and Sibley had 7 saves to hold a 2-1 advantage at intermission.<\/p>\n
In the third quarter Spain scored on an outside attempt at 5:54 and again on an extra man opportunity at 2:51 to take their first lead 3-2. USA answered with a goal from Samuels off an extra man timeout play at 2:07 and a counter attack goal by Spencer Hamby (VC Premier) to reclaim the lead at 1:15.Spain scored the final goal of the quarter on an extra man opportunity at the :56 mark to tie the game at 4.<\/p>\n
In the fourth quarter Hamby and Guiterrez traded goals from the center position to tie the game at 5. Guiterrez scored another goal from center at 2:21 to give Spain the lead 6-5. Samuels scored the final two goals of the match with a direct shot after a foul and a 6 on 5 to give the US team the win 7-6. The United States was 2\/5 on man advantages and 1\/2 on penalties while Spain was just 2\/9 on man advantages and did not attempt a penalty. Team USA is back in action tomorrow against Serbia. <\/p>\n
Scoring
\nUSA 1 1 2 3 7
\nESP 0 1 3 2 6<\/p>\n
Saves: USA Sibley 11<\/p>\n
Goals: USA Samuels 4, Hamby 2, Vavic 1
\n ESP Carrillo 3, Guiterrez 2, Clols 1<\/p>\n
Penalties: USA 1\/2
\n ESP 0\/0<\/p>\n
6 on 5: USA 2\/5
\n ESP 2\/9<\/p>\n
Team USA: 8 field blocks<\/p>\n
Flash Quotes:
\n"Our game versus Spain was the most exciting game of the first day. We have been anxious to begin the tournament since arriving to Europe August 11. This is a big win for our team. We must now quickly shift our focus to our bracket game versus Serbia tomorrow."
\n-Josh Samuels<\/p>\n
"I am very proud of the resilience and poise our team showed today. This group has very little experience, but a great deal of heart, and a terrific understanding of team. This was a fantastic start to the tournament, but we have to continue to improve throughout the tournament to compete with the best teams in the world"
\n-Doug Peabody<\/p>\n
The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine<\/i>. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World<\/i> offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World<\/i> reserves the right to choose what material is posted.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SIBENIK, Croatia, August 22. THE USA Men's Junior National Team opened play today at the FINA Men's Junior World Championships with a 7-6 defeat of Spain. Josh Samuels (SoCal) led<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water-polo","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n