The final game of the USA-Serbia Exhibition Series took place today at Stanford’s Avery Stadium. Serbia won the game with a final score of 16-11. The United States offense led a balanced attack with two goals each from Josh Samuels (Villa Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC), Bret Bonanni (Huntington Beach, CA/Stanford/Stanford), Alex Bowen(Santee, CA/Stanford/Stanford), and Nolan McConnell (Laguna Beach, CA/Long Beach St./SET). Milos Cuk led the Serbian offense with four goals. McQuin Baron (North Tustin, CA/Mater Dei HS/United) and Jon Sibley (Lafayette, CA/California/Lamorinda) split time in net. Baron had six saves in the game while Sibley had three. Serbia’s Gojko Pijetlovic was in the goal for the whole game and had ten saves. The United States flies to Dubai next week for the FINA World League Super Final. For a look at the complete USA-Serbia series including recaps from each match, click here.
Team USA came out strong in the first quarter with goals by McConnell and Samuels to take a 2-0 lead. Serbia answered with goals by Stefan Mitrovic, Zivko Gocic, and Andija Prlainovic . The first quarter ended with a close score of 3-2 with Serbia leading.
In the second quarter, the USA capitalized on the man up advantage with four goals by John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC), Bowen, McConnell, and Bonanni. Bowen also had another goal in the quarter. Serbia had goals by Pijetlovic, Dusan Mandic, Prlainovic, and Milos Cuk who scored two goals. At the half, the score was 8-7 with Serbia holding the lead.
After a close first half, Serbia took the lead in the third with two goals from Dusko Pijetlovic, and Slobodan Nikic. Samuels scored the only goal in the quarter for the United States that was followed by goals from Serbia’s Filip Filipovic and Milos Cuk.
Serbia’s Nikic, Cuk and Filipovic scored the first three goals in the fourth quarter to take a commanding lead at 12-8. Bonanni capitalized on a 5-meter penalty shot for the USA to get his squad on the board. After that, Bowen and Michael Rosenthal (Miami, FL/USC/NYAC) took off down the pool for a counter attack where Rosenthal scored on the fast break. Serbia’s Mandic scored the last goal for Serbia while Conner Cleary (Goleta, CA/Stanford/Stanford) scored the final goal for the USA. It was too little too late as Serbia came away winners by five goals.
Scoring
USA – 11 -Michael Rosenthal (1 goal), Conner Cleary (1 goal), Josh Samuels (2 goals), Bret Bonanni (2 goals), Alex Bowen (2 goals), Nolan McConnell (2 goals), John Mann (1 goal), McQuin Baron (6 saves), Jon Sibley (3 saves)
Serbia- 16 – Dusko Pijetlovic (2 goals), Slobodan Nikic (2 goals), Milos Cuk (4 goals), Stefan Mitrovic (1 goal) Zivko Gocic (1 goal), Andija Prlainovic (2 goals), Dusn Mandic (2 goals), Gojko Pijetlovic (10 saves)
Swimming News / Water Polo News courtesy of USA Water Polo.