Bucharest, Romania - June 12 - The USA Men's Junior National Team concluded pool play at the World Aquatics Junior World Championships with a 7-8 loss to Serbia. Ryder Dodd scored four goals and Chase Dodd added two while West Temkin notched ten saves in net. A replay of the game can be
found here. The loss means Team USA finishes third in Group B behind Serbia and Hungary and in front of Greece.
On the first possession of the game, Ryder Dodd got the scoring started for Team USA off a nice find from Ben Liechty. Serbia had a timely answer from Luka Gladovic to even the score before William Schneider retook the lead for the United States midway through the opening quarter. The back half of the frame saw both teams squander power play opportunities to keep the score 2-1 after one. In the second period, Schneider earned a penalty against Serbia and Ryder Dodd stepped up to knock it down. Minutes later, the Americans utilized a pair of man-up advantages to widen the lead and it was Ryder Dodd again with a first half hat trick and then some. The Serbians were able to fight back and got a power play score from Bogdan Gavrilovic and a penalty shot from Nikola Kojic to set the halftime score at 5-3 in favor of Team USA.
Serbia kept the momentum from the end of the first half going into the second half as they scored three straight times to take the lead. Petar Stanic, Marko Dimitrijevic, and Kojic turned the tide in the game and put the United States on its heels. With under two minutes to play in the quarter, Chase Dodd leveled the score as the game head to the final frame all tied 6-6. In the fourth period, Aleksandar Kovacevic deposited an early goal from just outside two meters for Serbia. Three and a half minutes later, the Americans turned back to the Dodds for the equalizer. Ryder assisted Chase who buried the game-tying goal from outside. The game entered the final 90 seconds tied before Gavrilovic earned an exclusion and Gladovic took advantage for Serbia to eke out the 8-7 victory.
Scoring -
Stats via Total Water Polo
SRB 8 (1, 2, 3, 2) L. Gladovic 2, N. Kojic 2, M. Dimitrijevic 1, B. Gavrilovic 1, P. Stanic 1, A. Kovacevic 1
USA 7 (2, 3, 1, 1) R. Dodd 4, C. Dodd 2, W. Schneider 1
Saves - USA - W. Temkin 10, SRB - P. Pajkovic 8
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