USA Men Fall To Croatia 11-5 In Bronze Medal Match Of FINA World League Super Final
6/26/2011 12:00:00 AM
Florence, Italy - June 26 - The USA Men's National Team was denied the Bronze Medal at the FINA World League Super Final with an 11-5 defeat at the hands of Croatia. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) led the offense with two goals in the defeat. Serbia won the Gold Medal and clinched a berth for the 2012 Olympic Games with an 8-7 win over Italy. Next up for the United States is the FINA World Championships starting this July in Shanghai, China.
Croatia got off to the good start going up 2-0 with 3:55 to play in the first period. Layne Beaubien (Coronado, CA/Stanford/NYAC) broke through for the United States with a score to make it a 2-1 match with 1:33 to play. Croatia scored shortly thereafter to go back up two goals at 3-1 but JW Krumpholz (Santa Ana, CA/USC/NYAC) found the net with just 38 seconds to play in the quarter for a 3-2 match headed to the second period.
Team USA fell down 5-2 in the second quarter before Bailey got on the board for the first time with a goal to close within 5-3. Croatia scored thirty seconds later but Bailey came right back with a goal at the 4:15 mark to make it 6-4. Croatia tacked on one one more score with under two minutes to play in the period and led 7-4 at halftime.
The third quarter was quiet on both sides as defense was a priority. Just a lone goal was scored by Croatia with a little over four minutes to play and it was 8-4 Croatia going to the fourth. Croatia put the match away in the fourth quarter with three straight goals to build an 11-4 lead. Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) added a late goal for the United States but it would not factor in the decision as they fell 11-5.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 5 (2, 2, 0, 1) R. Bailey 2, J. Powers 1, L. Beaubien 1, J. Krumpholz 1
CRO 11 (3, 4, 1, 3)
Mens' National Team