USA Junior Men Stopped By Croatia 11-6 At Junior World Championships

Sibenik, Croatia - A chance at the medal round was denied today for the USA Men's Junior National Team as they fell to Croatia 11-6 at the FINA Junior World Championships. The loss sends the men's squad to the 5th-8th place games with a match against Italy tomorrow.

The first half in this contest was pretty evenly matched as Croatia held just a 3-2 lead after the first quarter. In the second Team USA remained close adding on two more goals to match two from Croatia and it was a one goal game at the break, 5-4 in favor of the host country. In the second half Croatia started to turn it on as they outscored the Americans 3-1 in the third and fourth quarters. Those quarters would prove to be the difference as Croatia came away with the 11-6 victory.

Forrest Watkins (SoCal) led the USA offense with two goals and was joined by a score apiece from Paul Reynolds (SoCal), Griffin White (SoCal), Josh Samuels (SoCal), and Chris Wendt (Windy City WP). Jon Sibley (Lamorinda) went the whole game in the net turning away seven shots. Team USA went just 1/4 on power plays while Croatia was 6-8. In addition Croatia stopped the lone USA penalty shot attempt. 

Team USA is back in action against Italy tomorrow at 5:50pm local time in Croatia. 

Scoring

USA 6 (2, 2, 1, 1) F. Watkins 2, P. Reynolds 1, G. White 1, J. Samuels 1, C. Wendt 1
CRO 11 (3, 2, 3, 3) M. Bautovic 2, L. Pavlovic 2, J. Marinic Kragic 2, M. Ivankovic 2, F. Geratovic 1, A. Vlahovic 1, K. Milakovic 1

Saves - USA - J. Sibley 7 - CRO - J. Selem 7

6x5 - USA - 1/4 - CRO - 6/8
Penalties - USA 0/1 - CRO 0/0

Tags: Junior Men's National Team, USA Water Polo