Gwangju, South Korea - July 25 -
Hannes Daube (Long Beach, CA/USC/North Irvine WPC) scored the game winner with :36 left in the fourth quarter to lift the USA Men's National Team over Montenegro 15-14 in the 9th place match at the FINA World Championships. Daube scored three goals in the win alongside four goals from
Johnny Hooper (Los Angeles, CA/California/LA Premier) and three from
Ben Hallock (Westlake Village, CA/Stanford/LA Premier).
Alex Wolf (Huntington Beach, CA/UCLA/Bruin) went the distance in net turning aside 10 shots. Team USA finishes play in Gwangju with a record of 4-2 and now looks ahead to the Pan American Games starting on August 4 in Lima, Peru. Team USA announced the Pan American Games
roster earlier this month, the winner of the tournament qualifies for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Team USA got out to the early lead jumping ahead 2-0 on goals from Hooper and
Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC). Montenegro scored two of the next three goals to make it 3-2 in favor of Team USA but Daube closed the quarter with a score for a 4-2 advantage going to the second. Montenegro drew to within one at 4-3 early in the second but goals from Hooper and Hallock pushed the lead to 6-3 with 6:44 left in the first half. Montenegro scored three of the next four goals to draw within one at 7-6 with 3:47 to play in the second quarter. Hooper scored moments later to push the lead back to two at 8-6 but Montenegro closed the high scoring half with two goals to tie the match at 8-8 at intermission. The last goal for Montenegro came as time expired in the half.
The two teams continued to trade goals in the third quarter. After a combined 10 goals in the second quarter the two sides teamed up for 8 goals in the third. A goal from Bowen put Team USA up 9-8 with 6:11 remaining but Montenegro countered with two straight goals for an 11-10 lead less than a minute later. After Team USA tied the match at 11-11, Montenegro pulled in front again 12-11 with 3:25 left in the period. Daube again had the last word in a quarter with a delivery from six meters to tie the match at 12-12 going to the fourth.
Montenegro took the early lead in the fourth but
Chancellor Ramirez (Pasadena, CA/UCLA/NYAC) and Irving responded with scores for a 14-13 advantage with under four minutes to play. With less than two minutes to go Aleksander Ivovic scored his sixth and final goal for Montenegro to tie the game at 14-14. That set the stage for Daube's heroics as time wound down in the match. The goal from Daube gave Team USA the 15-14 victory.
The United States went 3/7 in power plays and 1/1 in penalties while Montenegro was 5/10 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 15 (4, 4, 4, 3) J. Hooper 4, H. Daube 3, B. Hallock 3, M. Irving 2, A. Bowen 2, C. Ramirez 1
MNE 14 (2, 6, 4, 2) A. Ivovic 6, D. Radovic 2, D. Spaic 2, U. Cuckovic 1, M. Janovic 1, B. Durdic 1, N. Murisic 1
Saves - USA - A. Wolf 10 - MNE - D. Lazovic 6, S. Kandic 5
6x5 - USA - 3/7 - MNE - 5/10
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - MNE - 1/1
