Budapest, Hungary - July 1 - The USA Men's National Team defeated Hungary, 16-15, after a penalty shootout in the 5th-8th place semifinal at the FINA World Championships earlier today in Budapest.
Hannes Daube scored four goals while
Alex Bowen and
Ben Stevenson added three each in the win.
Adrian Weinberg accounted for 13 saves in net, including a massive stop in the penalty shootout.
Ben Hallock clinched the victory scoring in the final round of the shootout. Team USA will play Serbia for 5th place on Sunday at 11am et/8am pt. Live streaming is available via the FINA YouTube page by
clicking here. For those in Europe, live streaming can be accessed by
clicking here. Post game stats will be available by
clicking here.
Team USA fell behind by two early in the contest but responded with three straight goals from Daube, Stevenson, and Daube again to take a 3-2 lead. Hungary answered with two goals to close the first quarter with a 4-3 advantage. The second period was without a goal for the first four minutes before Gergo Zalanki and Gergely Zoltan Burian extended the hosts' lead to 6-3. Bowen and
Jake Ehrhardt came back with a pair of goals for the Americans to cut the deficit to one, 6-5, at the halftime break.
Team USA got third quarter goals from Bowen, Stevenson, and Daube opposite a pair of goals for Hungary and the teams went into the fourth tied, 8-8. In the fourth quarter,
Max Irving converted a man-up advantage to take the lead before Hungary countered to tie the game again.
Chase Dodd and
Dylan Woodhead then provided back-to-back goals to move in front by two, 11-9. The Hungarians found the back of the net twice in the final minutes to tie the game again before having a game-winning power play chance snuffed out by Weinberg with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to preserve the 11-11 tie.
Both teams converted their first penalty shots as Marton Vamos prepared for Hungary's second attempt. Vamos let one fly but Weinberg dove to block the attempt as he made good on his opportunity on the world stage. Daube, Irving, Bowen and Stevenson all converted against Hungarian goalkeeper Soma Vogel before the hosts substituted Marton Levai in for the Americans' final attempt. Hallock, the Team USA captain, put the finishing touches on the hard fought victory by putting the ball right between Levai's outstretched arms for the game winner.
The United States went 4/8 on power plays and 7/7 on penalty shots while Hungary went 4/11 on power plays and 4/5 on penalty shots.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 16 (3, 2, 3, 3)(PS 5) H. Daube 4, A. Bowen 3, B. Stevenson 3, M. Irving 2, C. Dodd 1, J. Ehrhardt 1, D. Woodhead 1, B. Hallock 1
HUN 15 (4, 2, 2, 3)(PS 4) K. Manhercz 4, A. Nagy 4, G. Zalanki 3, D. Varga 3, G. Zoltan Burian 1
Saves - USA - A. Weinberg 13 - HUN - S. Vogel 5, M. Levai 2
6x5 - USA - 4/8 - HUN - 4/11
Penalties - USA - 7/7 - HUN - 4/5
