Naples, Italy - July 11 - The USA Men's National Team battled back to defeat Croatia 12-11 yesterday in quarterfinal action at the World University Games. The victory keeps Team USA undefeated and moves them into the semifinal round against Hungary on Saturday. Tyler Abramson scored a game-high five goals in the victory including the game-winner. Team USA will now meet Hungary on Saturday at 8am est/5am pst. The USA Women came up just short against Canada, losing 10-9 in a shootout in quarterfinal action falling into the 5th-8th place bracket. Team USA then lost another 10-9 contest, this time to Japan in the 5th place semifinal. They will now play for 7th place on Friday. For more information on the USA World University Games teams along with schedules, click here. Live streaming of the action will be available for the semifinal and final rounds via FISU.TV. 

The USA Men took a 4-3 lead against Croatia in the first quarter and held a one goal lead going into halftime at 7-6. In the third quarter Croatia came to life outscoring Team USA 3-1 to snag a 9-8 advantage. Croatia went ahead in the fourth quarter taking an 11-9 lead a couple of minutes into the period. From there Team USA took over scoring three unanswered goals. Bennett Williams hit first to make it 11-10. From there Abramson did the job scoring the next two, including the game winner with less than a minute to play to secure the win. 

In the loss to Canada the USA Women built multiple two-goal leads holding an advantage early at 2-0 and later in the match at 5-3. Canada worked their way back in the low scoring affair scoring the final two goals of regulation to force the shootout. Each side made their first three shots before Canada came up with a save. Canada followed by connecting on their remaining shots to earn the one goal win. Abbi Hill scored three goals in the losing effort. 

Japan started off strong taking a 6-4 lead in a high scoring first quarter. The offenses of both sides settled down after that with just three combined goals in the second quarter as Japan went in front 8-5 at halftime. Team USA held Japan scoreless in the third quarter as they added a goal of their own to climb back within two at 8-6. In the fourth they cut the deficit to one on a Hill goal making 8-7 about halfway through the period. Denise Mammolito brought Team USA back to within a goal at 10-9 with less than two minutes to play but they would get no closer as Japan hung on for the victory. 

Scoring

Men
USA 12 (4, 3, 1, 4) T. Abramson 5, J. Ehrhardt 3, B. Williams 3, K. Langiewicz 1
CRO 11 (3, 3, 3, 2)

Women
USA 9 (2, 2, 1, 0) (4) A. Hill 3, V. Ayala 2, B. Weber 1, A. Johnson 1, D. Mammolito 1, T. Prentice 1
CAN 10 (1, 2, 1, 1) (5)

USA 9 (4, 1, 1, 3)  A. Hill 5, A. Johnson 2, B. Weber 1, D. Mammolito 1
JPN 10 (6, 2, 0, 2)
Saves - USA - M. Tagg 13, H. Parker 1
6x5 - USA 2/6 - JPN 3/7
Penalties - USA 1/2 - JPN 0/0