Day 3 & 4 at FINA Youth Worlds
After enjoying a day off on day 2, Team USA jumped back in the water on day 3 looking to avenge its earlier loss to Hungary.
Team USA squared off against Egypt and got off to an early 4-1 first quarter lead. By the end of the third the US extended its lead to 10-4. Egypt went on a late run but it was too little, too late as the US prevailed 12-8. Roosevelt product Conrad Gordon played the entire game in the cage and registered 9 saves and four steals. Rising BHS senior Marco Stanchi had one steal and started at center. Thomas Dunstan, Kent Inuoe and Nick Bisconti led USA with three goals each.
On day 3, USA faced Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan struck first, but Stanchi tied the game on a man-up goal. Kazakhstan answered to go up 2-1 at the end of the first. But Stanchi again answered for Team USA, burying a close range shot with a Kazakhstan defender on his back. From there, Team USA took over, going on a 15-0 run to put the game away.
Inuoe and Bennett Williams led the scoring with 4 goals each. Dunstan added three assists, Bisconti drew three ejections and Bryce Hoerman’s had three steals. Alex Wolf had eight goals in three quarters before ceding the cage to Gordon in the fourth. Stanchi had two goals, one ejection drawn and one steal.
On day 4, the US faced Spain in its final bracket game. Spain had earlier tied Hungary 6-6, so the US was in for a fight. And they came out ready to battle. Nick Carniglia struck first to put the US up early. Spain answered with two of their own, but Inuoe scored to end the quarter knotted at 2-2. Spain went on a 4-2 run in the second and scored the first goal in the second period. Just when it looked like the game might be slipping away, Team USA rallied, scoring goals to keep the game close. With two minutes to play, the US had a fast break opportunity to put the game within one, but a Stanchi lob shot was turned away and the US could not close the gap.
Stanchi led the US with six ejections drawn in the physical affair. Dunstan, Inuoe and Carniglia had two goals each.
With the loss, the US earns third place in their bracket and faces Croatia at 6:40pm on Thursday (8:40am PST) for the right to enter the quarterfinals.
