USA Men Will Play For Fifth Place Following 9-8 Defeat Of Germany
7/28/2011 12:00:00 AM
Shanghai, China - July 28 - The USA Men's National Team will play for fifth place at the 2011 FINA World Championships after holding off Germany 9-8 to rebound from a tough quarterfinal loss to Hungary. Ryan Bailey (Long Beach, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) and Peter Varellas (Moraga, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) led the offense with two goals each in a balanced attack that saw seven different goal scorers. Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) went all four quarters in the cage recording 9 saves. Team USA now will meet either Spain on Montenegro in the fifth place match on Saturday at 10:55am local time/7:55pm pst (Fri).
Team USA came out strong in this match getting a goal from Bailey on a power play to open things up just forty seconds into the contest for a 1-0 lead. Germany answered with a power play goal of their own at the 5:42 mark but that was followed just a short time after with Adam Wright (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC) hitting on a power play by putting the ball right over the goalie's head. Up 2-1 the United States added more as Layne Beaubien (Coronado, CA/Stanford/NYAC) connected on a power play and then with just :24 left in the period Bailey used a strong pump fake to ditch the keeper and find the net for a 4-1 lead. Germany managed to get one back with only eight seconds remaining in the period for a 4-2 game in favor of the United States going to the second quarter.
In the second the Germans began to rally. First, it was a power play goal early in the quarter to draw within one, and then they came back with another score on a five meter penalty to tie the match at 4-4. The United States responded in a major way. Varellas got it started on a broken play that resulted in a score right as a power play was set to end for the United States. From there Wright lobbed a pass over the top to Jeff Powers (San Luis Obispo, CA/UC-Irvine/Newport WPF) who put the ball past the goalie in an alley-oop type play. With 2:04 remaining they kept building the lead with Varellas again scoring on a power play for a 7-4 advantage. The scoring parade stopped with just two seconds left on the clock as Shea Buckner (Villa Park, CA/USC/NYAC) connected from deep for an 8-4 lead going into the break.
For as strong as the USA offense was in the second quarter it did not make a dent on the Germans in the third. Germany held the United States scoreless while adding two power play goals of their own to get to 8-6 by the end of the period. The United States got what would prove to be a much needed cushion in their lead at the 6:33 mark of the fourth period when Brian Alexander (Santa Ana, CA/UCSB/Olympic Club) fired home a goal as the shot clock was expiring for a 9-6 game. Germany would score on a penalty shot with 5:34 to play to make it 9-7. Then with 1:07 remaining in the match the Germans scored again on a power play inside and it was just a one goal game at 9-8. The final possession for Germany resulted in a turnover and the United States was able to salt away the clock and take the contest 9-8.
The United States went 7/10 on power plays while not attempting a penalty shot and Germany was 4/12 on power plays and 2/2 on penalty shots.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 9 (4, 4, 0, 1) R. Bailey 2, P. Varellas 2, J. Powers 1, A. Wright 1, S. Buckner 1, L. Beaubien 1, B. Alexander 1
GER 8 (2, 2, 2, 2)
Saves - USA - M. Moses - 9
6x5 - USA - 7/10 - GER - 4/12
Penalties - USA - 0/0 - GER 2/2
Flash Quotes
"I think the guys are continuing to get in the mindset of we gotta go out and win every game. The 5th-8th place games are always tougher to get up for but I think we came with some really good energy and we did a nice job of holding on there at the end. It definitely came down to good six on five, and five man (defense)." Terry Schroeder, USA Head Coach
"I think it is really positive for us. I think there is the message that we have alot of work to do, we don't want to be playing fifth through eighth, we want to be playing one, two, three. I think there is a realization that we are close to being there, but close doesn't count for much. We have alot of work to do, the guys know that. I think it is some positive steps and we want to finish up with one more strong game and get into the summer and head into the Pan Ams with some good positive momentum." Terry Schroeder, USA Head Coach on finishing strong at World Championships
Mens' National Team