Feb. 1, 2013
Calgary, Canada -
Calgary, Canada - January 31 - The USA Men's National Team picked up their first win at the UANA World Aquatic Championship Qualification Tournament with a 14-2 victory over Brazil. Nikola Vavic (Palos Verdes, CA/USC/Trojan) led a balanced scoring attack with four goals while Andy Stevens (Villa Park, CA/LMU/NYAC) did the job in net stopping 15 shots including a penalty shot stop. Team USA closes out preliminary play with a match against Argentina tonight.
The United States jumped out to a lead early on, going up 5-1 after the first period and 9-2 at halftime. Jesse Smith (Coronado, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) fired into two goals in the first period and Vavic followed with two in the second to build the lead. In the second half the United States took it up another notch defensively blanking Brazil for the rest of the match. In the third period Vavic added his fourth tally while Smith tacked on his third and the United States went ahead 12-2. The red, white, and blue put the match away in the fourth with two more goals to take the match 14-2.
Team USA was perfect on the power play going 6-6 and 2-2 on penalties while Brazil was just 1-4 on the extra man opportunity and 0/1 on penalties. "We started this game with a lot more energy. Our defense was excellent from the beginning," said USA Head Coach Jovan Vavic. "Andy was great in the cage, everyone was involved in our offense. (Our) 6 on 5 was much better tonight."
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 14 (5, 4, 3, 2) N. Vavic 4, J. Smith 3, A. Bowen 2, R. Bailey 1, T. Corcoran 1, J. MacDonell 1, S. Davidson 1, B. Bonanni 1
BRA 2 (1, 1, 0, 0) E. Vieira 1, R. Franco 1
Saves - USA - A. Stevens 15
6x5 - USA - 6/6 - BRA - 1/4
Penalties - USA - 2/2 - BRA - 0/1
