Stockton, CA - July 10 - The USA Men were defeated by Italy tonight, 13-10, at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the campus of University of the Pacific. Max Irving and Marko Vavic scored three goals each while retiring Olympic bronze medalist Alex Obert scored once in his final game. United States goalkeepers Bernardo Herzer and Adrian Weinberg combined for eight saves in net. Team USA and Italy will conclude this three-game series on Sunday, July 12 at Stanford University's Avery Aquatic Center with a 12:30pm pt start time. The match will feature a retirement celebration for Olympic bronze medalist Drew Holland with LIVE streaming on Overnght and LIVE stats on 6-8 Sports.
It was a slow start offensively in this contest as good defense and turnovers led to over five minutes of scoreless action. Italy eventually struck first but Vavic responded before the end of the quarter to set the score at 1-1 after one.
The Italians scored first in the second period to retake the lead before Dominic Brown leveled off a nice assist from Jack Larsen. The visitors then scored three straight to push in front before Vavic earned a penalty with 0:18 remaining in the half. That was when head coach Dejan Udovicic sent Alex Obert to the five meter line and he put it away on a skip shot for the final goal of his storied career with Team USA.
Italy was up 5-3 at the half and they scored to begin the third quarter. Nicolas Saveljic had a quick response for the Americans but Italy matched with another goal just over one minute later. After an earned exclusion by Brown, the United States turned to Irving for a power play goal and then Vavic on the counter attack to pull back within one. The Italians would counter with a counter attack of their own before Chase Dodd and Vavic leveled the score with back-to-back goals. With seconds left in the period, Italy went up 9-8 with a late goal.
In the final frame, Italy found the back of the net twice to start. Irving put away his second but the visitors consistently had an answer. Later in the period, Irving stepped up to bury a penalty shot and record a hat trick but it was not enough to catch the Italians who claimed a 13-10 win.
Team USA went 2/10 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties while Italy went 5/10 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties.
Scoring - Stats
USA 10 (1, 2, 5, 2) M. Irving 3, M. Vavic 3, D. Brown 1, C. Dodd 1, A. Obert 1, N. Saveljic 1
ITA 13 (1, 4, 4, 4) M. Iocchi Gratta 4, V. Dolce 2, F. Ferrero 2, S. Guerrato 2, A. Carnesecchi 1, M. Del Basso 1, T. Gianazza 1
Saves - USA - B. Herzer 6, A. Weinberg 2 - ITA - G. Nicosia 11
6x5 - USA - 2/10 - ITA - 5/10
Penalties - USA - 2/2 - ITA - 1/1
