USA Men Hammer South Africa 20-3; Advance To Play Canada In Preliminary Round
7/22/2011 12:00:00 AM
Shanghai, China - July 22 - After two straight losses to open the FINA World Championships the USA Men's National Team exercised some frustration with a 20-3 demolition of South Africa to close out group play. The win secures a third place finish in Group D and a preliminary matchup with Canada on Sunday at 4:50pm local time/1:50am pst. Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) led an army of goal scorers for the United States with five tallies on the day while Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) and Andy Stevens (Villa Park, CA/LMU/NYAC) split time in the cage stopping eight shots.
The scoring came early and often in this match as Team USA got it started less than thirty seconds into the game going inside to Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) who delivered the backhand score and a quick 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) got the ball on a counter attack and beat the keeper to make it 2-0 USA. At the 4:15 mark the USA kept building when Azevedo cut to the cage and was the recipient of a nice lead pass which he putaway for a 3-0 match. Azevedo came back two minutes later with a lob shot from five meters to fool the keeper and give the United States a 4-0 lead. Azevedo wasn't done as on the next USA possession he fed Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) nicely for a score and a 5-0 advantage after one quarter.
In the second things began much like the first. Less than a minute into the period the ball went back inside to Bailey who shook off his defender and found the cage for a 6-0 lead. The next two minutes saw Tim Hutten (Seal Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) score back to back power play goals and just like that it was 8-0. South Africa broke through moments later with a power play goal to get on the board at 8-1. The USA closed the half with another score when Varellas lobbed one in from four meters out for a 9-1 lead at the break.
The third quarte was more of the same as Azevedo opened with a power play goal and then cashed in a penalty drawn by Peter Hudnut (Encino, CA/Stanford/NYAC) to make the game 11-1 in favor of the United States. Layne Beaubien (Coronado, CA/Stanford/NYAC) knocked in a shot from outside at the 4:07 mark and then with 1:42 left Hudnut and Azevedo repeated the same play from before with Azevedo scoring off Hudnut's drawn penalty. Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) closed the quarter with a power play score and it was 14-1 USA going to the fourth.
In the final period the United States kept building on their lead and it started with Shea Buckner (Villa Park, CA/USC/NYAC) scoring from outside for a 15-1 lead. Brian Alexander (Santa Ana, CA/UCSB/Olympic Club) scored next to make it 16-1. South Africa got one back on a power play to get to 16-2 but the USA answered with four straight goals. Beaubien, Smith, Hutten, and Alexander all hit the back of the net to make it 20-2. South Africa had the final word scoring as time expired to end the contest 20-3 in favor of the United States. Team USA went a staggering 8/9 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties while South Africa was 2/6 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot. Moses tallied six saves while Stevens added two. The United States and their next opponent, Canada, met most recently at the FINA World League Prelims in Southern California with the United States winning both games.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 20 (5, 4, 5, 6) T. Azevedo 5, T. Hutten 3, R. Bailey 2, J. Smith 2, P. Varellas 2, L. Beaubien 2, B. Alexander 2, J. Powers 1, S. Buckner 1
RSA 3 (0, 1, 0, 2)
6x5 - USA 8/9 - RSA 2/6
Penalties - USA 2/2 - RSA 0/0
Saves - USA - M. Moses 6 - A. Stevens 2
Mens' National Team