USA Men Edged By Hungary 9-8 In Quarterfinals Of FINA World Championships
7/26/2011 12:00:00 AM
Shanghai, China - July 26 - The USA Men's National Team took defending Olympic Gold Medalist Hungary to the wire before falling 9-8 in the quarterfinals of the 2011 FINA World Championships. A victory would have meant a berth to the 2012 Olympic Games, with the loss the United States will now enter the 5th-8th place bracket and will look to the Pan American Games this October as their next opportunity to qualify for London. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) and Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) each tallied three goals to lead the offense while Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) turned in a strong effort in the cage turning aside 12 shots. Team USA will next play on Thursday, July 28 at 12:10pm local time - 9:10pm pst (Wed) in a rematch with Germany from group play. The United States opened the tournament losing to Germany 9-7.
Team USA came out on fire in the first half as they got a goal less than a minute into the match when Bailey delivered a backhand to take a 1-0 lead. That was followed at about the five minute mark when Tim Hutten (Seal Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) drew a five meter penalty and Bailey converted for a goal and a 2-0 lead. Hungary broke through on the next possession with a power play score to get within 2-1 but the United States answered moments later as Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) went bar down to beat the goalie for a 3-1 lead. That was the advantage to open the second quarter when Hungary got one back on a power play to draw within 3-2. At the 5:27 mark the United States answered when Adam Wright (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC) lofted a pass inside to Hutten who beat the goalie for a 4-2 game. Team USA kept building as Varellas got his first of the day with a shot from outside that touched off the crossbar and went in to put the red, white, and blue up 5-2. Hungary came back with consecutive power play goals and at halftime the United States held a 5-4 lead.
The third quarter was a see-saw with Hungary opening the period with two straight goals, the first on a counter attack, the second a five meter penalty to take their first lead at 6-5. The United States had an answer as Varellas faked out the goalie on a lob shot that dropped into the net for a 6-6 game. Then with 1:22 left in the quarter on a power play the ball went inside to Bailey who gathered it up and fired one past the goalie for a 7-6 lead in favor of the United States. On the next possession Hungary came right back with a goal right as an exclusion was whistled to tie the match at 7-7 going to the fourth.
Both teams traded missed opportunities early in the fourth until Hungary found the cage on a power play for an 8-7 lead with 4:14 remaining. The United States had a chance to tie the match on a power play with 2:21 left but an amazing stop by the Hungarian keeper on a shot right in front of the net preserved the lead. Hungary added another goal with 1:34 remaining to go up 9-7 but the United States would not back down. Varellas hit for his third of the day on a power play with 1:13 left and it was a one goal game at 9-8 in favor of Hungary. After the USA defense held off Hungary the last possession resulted in a turnover from Team USA as they were unable to get a shot off and the match would end with Hungary victorious at 9-8.
The United States went 3/12 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while Hungary was 5/11 on power plays and 1/1 on penalty shots.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 8 (3, 2, 2, 1) P. Varellas 3, R. Bailey 3, T. Azevedo 1, T. Hutten 1
HUN 9 (1, 3, 3, 2)
Saves - USA - M.Moses - 12
6x5 - USA- 3/12 - HUN - 5/11
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - HUN - 1/1
Flash Quotes
"Bottom line when it came down to it we missed three or four wide open six on five opportunities and we gave up some that probably shouldn't have been goals for them. You're really not going to beat a team like Hungary when you do that stuff." Tony Azevedo - USA Captain
"We always want to go out there and win, we want to be the first American team to win a (World Championship) medal, we want to qualify, but it didn't happen that way. For us the big picture is London, it's been that way since Beijing, for other teams, Europeans, they have all these things, for us right now our focus is qualifying for London, we are going to do these next two games to prepare for the Pan American Games and after that we'll be getting prepared for the Olympic Games, that's our focus." Tony Azevedo - USA Captain
Mens' National Team