Men take fourth at Worlds

Rome - The USA Men's Senior National Team fell just short of a Bronze Medal at the FINA World Championships as they lost to Croatia earlier today 8-6. With the loss the United States finishes in fourth place overall, a marked improvement from ninth in 2007 and ends tourney play with a 4-2 record overall.

Team USA played a tremendous first half and got started early scoring the first goal less than 60 seconds into the match. Team Captain Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford) took a feed from Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine) to hit on a power play goal for a 1-0 lead. Croatia would answer some two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1 but that was short lived.

At the 3:01 mark in the period JW Krumpholz (Santa Ana, CA/USC) was the recipient of some great passing on the counter attack as Layne Beaubien (Coronado, CA/Stanford) fired a pass to Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine) who quickly found Krumpholz for the score and a 2-1 lead. The USA added just minutes later on a player advantage as Brian Alexander (Santa Ana, CA/UCSB) moved in on the near side and cashed in the score for a 3-1 lead. Croatia added a score late in the period but it would remain a USA lead at 3-2.

In the second the United States built their lead using another power play goal this time from Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford) who lit the proverbial lamp for a 4-2 lead at the 4:37 mark. The USA defense stayed strong as well, especially after the Varellas goal. Croatia would get three attempts on the cage in a single possession all denied by the USA defense and keeper Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine) who finished with 9 saves. However, late in the period the United States was called for a five meter penalty, Croatia converted and it was a 4-3 game in favor of the USA at halftime.

The third quarter belonged entirely to Croatia. After winning the opening sprint they were able to keep the United States scoreless for the entire period. From there they added two scores to take a 5-4 lead at the 1:40 mark in the third quarter. In the fourth the United States battled back. Jeff Powers made his way to the net and received a nice pass which he used to beat the Croatian goalie for a time game at 5-5.

It was a short lived tie as less than a minute later Croatia used a power play to take the lead at 6-5. Then moments later at the 4:06 mark in the period Croatia went inside to get a score out of two meters for a two goal lead at 7-5. The Croatia defense was there as well halting a USA man-up opportunity with just 1:47 to play. Despite time winding down the United States stuck with it getting a double exclusion against Croatia with 59 seconds left. Azevedo received a quick pass and found the cage to draw within 7-6. But it was Croatia that would answer last scoring a backbreaking man-up goal with just 27 seconds left to seal the game and the Bronze Medal at 8-6.