Just a day after nearly toppling Olympic champ Serbia in a shootout loss, the USA Men’s National Team came up short in the bronze medal match of the FINA World League Super Final, losing to Croatia 10-4. Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC) scored two goals to lead the offense with McQuin Baron (North Tustin, CA/USC/Regency) and Drew Holland (Orinda, CA/Stanford/Lamorinda) splitting time in net to record six saves. Team USA now gears up for the FINA World Championships where they will open against Croatia on July 17 in Budapest, Hungary. For full results from the Super Final, click here.
Croatia took control of this match early going up 5-1 after the first quarter in the fifth meeting between these two teams this month. Croatia outscored the United States 3-1 in the second quarter and were in command at halftime ahead 8-2. The scoring slowed for Croatia in the second half as they scored just one goal in the third and fourth quarter, matching the output from Team USA. That was more than enough to secure the six goal victory.
The United States went 2/6 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot while Croatia was 4/4 on the advantage and 1/1 on penalty shot attempts.
Scoring
USA 4 (1, 1, 1, 1) A. Bowen 2, J. Hooper 1, N. Carniglia 1
CRO 10 (5, 3, 1, 1)
Saves – USA – D. Holland 4, M. Baron 2
6×5 – USA – 2/6 – CRO – 4/4
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – CRO 1/1
