Strasbourg, France - June 25 - The USA Men's National Team picked up their third straight win at the FINA World League Super Final, defeating Australia 12-11 to advance to the semifinals of the FINA World League Super Final.
Max Irving scored three goals with
Adrian Weinberg recording 11 saves in net. It was a well-balanced attack on offense as
Ben Hallock,
Tyler Abramson,
Hannes Daube and
Alex Bowen all added two goals apiece. Team USA will now meet France in the semifinal tomorrow at 2pm et/11am pt. Live streaming is available by
clicking here, with live stats available by
clicking here.
Hallock started off the scoring giving Team USA a 1-0 lead early. Australia came back with two straight to lead 2-1 after one. Team USA ran off four straight to open the second quarter, two coming from Irving, building a 5-2 edge with 1:40 to play in the half. Australia was able to connect on two late goals, closing the margin back to one at 5-4 at intermission. The third quarter saw a combined nine goals as the two sides traded scores.
Jake Ehrhardt put Team USA up 6-4 but Australia came back with two straight to tie the game at 6-6 with 5:38 left in the third. From there it was a seesaw battle the rest of the way Luke Pavillard scoring one of his five goals on the day to tie the game at 9-9 at the end of the third quarter.
Bowen opened the fourth with two straight to give Team USA an 11-9 edge with 5:42 to play in the match. Australia responded with two straight power play goals to tie the match at 11-11 with 4:29 to go in the game. Hallock came through in the clutch scoring the game-winning goal with 1:31 left in the match. Australia had one final attempt on a steal with seconds to play but Weinberg made a block as time expired to secure the win.
Team USA went 5/12 on power plays and 2/3 on penalty shots while Australia went 5/8 on power plays with no penalties attempted.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 12 (1, 4, 4, 3) M. Irving 3, B. Hallock 2, T. Abramson 2, H. Daube 2, A. Bowen 2, J. Ehrhardt 1
AUS 11 (2, 2, 5, 2) L. Pavillard 5, G. Ford 3, B. Edwards 1, T. Putt 1, C. Negus 1
Saves - USA - A. Weinberg 7 - AUS - N. Porter 12
6x5 - USA - 5/12 - AUS - 5/8
Penalties - USA - 2/3 - AUS - 0/0
