Costa Mesa, CA - June 26 - The USA Men beat Montenegro, 12-11, in the opening contest of a three-game series between the two countries at Orange Coast College. Ben Liechty scored four times while goalkeepers Adrian Weinberg and Bernardo Herzer combined for 10 saves in the cage. Team USA will face Montenegro again on Sunday, June 28 at Woollett Aquatics Center with a 7pm pt start time. That match will stream LIVE on Overnght with LIVE stats available from 6-8 Sports.
The offense came fast and furious to begin this game as Montenegro opened with a penalty shot strike before Liechty scored the first goal of his big day. Montenegro pushed ahead by two before Peter Castillo scored the United States' second. After another Montenegrin goal, Chase Dodd and Marko Vavic went back-to-back to level the score. A second penalty shot of the quarter left Montenegro ahead 5-4 after the first quarter.
Team USA flipped the game in the second period as Montenegro scored just twice. On the other side, Ryan Ohl went bar in on a lightning quick counter attack while Liechty (3) continued to pour it on and the United States led 8-7 at the break.
Nicolas Saveljic netted the first goal of the second half before Hannes Daube added to the American tally with a laser from long range. Montenegro had a response with its own pair of goals to close the quarter and Team USA held a 10-9 edge after three.
In the beginning of the final frame, Dylan Woodhead put one away before a quick Montenegrin answer. After that, Vavic pushed the lead to two and then Montenegro cut the deficit back to one just over midway through the period. From there, both teams played stellar defense and the Americans held on for the 12-11 victory.
Team USA went 2/8 on power plays with no penalties attempted while Montenegro went 2/7 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties.
Scoring - Stats
USA 12 (4, 4, 2, 2) B. Liechty 4, M. Vavic 2, H. Daube 1, C. Dodd 1, P. Castillo 1, R. Ohl 1, N. Saveljic 1, D. Woodhead 1
MNE 11 (5, 2, 2, 2) S. Gojkovic 3, N. Moskov 2, J. Vujovic 2, A. Macic 1, A. Ukropina 1, Ð. Radovic 1, V. Radovic 1
Saves - USA - A. Weinberg 8, B. Herzer 2 - MNE - D. Ðurovic 7, I. Radovic 2
6x5 - USA - 2/8 - MNE - 2/7
Penalties - USA - 0/0 - MNE - 2/2
