USA Men Defeated By Serbia 11-5 On Day Three Of FINA World League Super Final
6/23/2011 12:00:00 AM
Florence, Italy - June 23 - The USA Men's National Team closed out group play at the FINA World League Super Final with an 11-5 loss to Serbia. Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) scored two goals to lead the USA attack. The United States now takes on a to be determined opponent in the quarterfinal round tomorrow.
Serbia came out of the gates early with a goal less than a minute into the match for a 1-0 lead. That was quickly answered by the United States when Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) found the cage for a 1-1 match. Serbia would rebound with two straights goals after that to close out the period in front 3-1. In the second period Serbia again hit early scoring at the 7:12 mark to make it 4-1. Smith came back with his first goal of the day to bring it back to two goals at 4-2 but then Serbia went on a mini three goal run to lead 7-2 at halftime.
The Serbians went up 9-2 midway through the third quarter when Smith hit again to stop their run and bring the score closer at 9-3. Serbia finished the quarter up 10-3 and was in control as the game moved to the final quarter. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) and Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) scored in the fourth quarter but it was not enough to rally back as Serbia came away winners at 11-5.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 5 (1, 1, 1, 2) J. Smith 2, J. Powers 1, T. Azevedo 1, R. Bailey 1
SRB 11 (3, 4, 3, 1)
Mens' National Team