Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Tbilisi, Georgia – June 26 – The USA Men’s National Team opened play at the FINA World League Super Final with a 10-6 defeat at the hands of Montenegro. Johnny Hooper scored two goals to lead the offense while Drew Holland and Alex Wolf teamed up for 11 saves in goal. The United States returns to play tomorrow against Japan at 12pm et/9am pt. Live stats will be available for each match by clicking here, with live streaming available of the semifinal and final day of competition via FloSports, by clicking here (subscription required).
Team USA got off to a great start taking a 2-0 lead in the first quarter behind goals from Alex Bowen and Jesse Smith. Max Irving scored early in the second to put the United States up 3-1 but Montenegro answered with four straight goals to go in front 5-3. Hooper added a goal late in the half to make it 5-4 going into the break.
Montenegro went in front 7-4 with 5:48 to play in the third after an Aleksander Ivovic goal, one of three on the day. Hooper and Alex Obert returned fire to draw back within one at 7-6 with less than a minute to play in the quarter. Montenegro followed with a goal to lead by two going into the fourth quarter. The Team USA offense never got on track in the fourth quarter as Montenegro held them scoreless while adding two more goals for a 10-6 victory.
Team USA went 4/10 on power plays and 0/1 on penalties while Montenegro went 4/15 on power plays with no penalty shots attempted.
Scoring – Stats
USA 6 (2, 2, 2, 0) J. Hooper 2, A. Bowen 1, A. Obert 1, J. Smith 1, M. Irving 1
MNE 10 (0, 5, 3, 2) A. Ivovic 3, A. Ukropina 2, D. Brguljan 2, M. Petkovic 1, U. Cuckovic 1, S. Vidovic 1
Saves – USA – D. Holland 7, A. Wolf 4 – MNE – P. Tesanovic 13
6×5 – USA – 4/10 – MNE – 4/15
Penalties – USA 0/1 – MNE – 0/0