Lake Forest, CA – June 7 – Luca Cupido’s (Newport Beach, CA/California/Newport) goal with just two seconds left in the fourth quarter pushed Team USA to an 11-10 win over Serbia at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, CA. Cupido tied the game with 45 seconds left after goals from Filip Filipovic and Andrija Prlainovic had put Serbia ahead with 1:13 to play. Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) posted 10 saves in net in picking up the victory.
To watch a full replay of the game, click here. The series concludes Tuesday night at a sold out University of Illinois, Chicago at 7:45pm ct. The game will be broadcast live and live stats will be available via The FOSH, both can be accessed here.
Team USA opened the match on top thanks to a goal from Josh Samuels (Villa Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC) but a rejuvenated Serbia squad responded. Bolstered by the return of Andrija Prlainovic, Filip Filipovic, and Dusko Pijetlovic, Serbia kept pace with Team USA in the first. Dusan Mandic connected to tie the match at 2-2 and Prlainovic connected on his first goal of the series to give Serbia a 3-2 lead after the first. They kept the attack up in the second period building a 5-2 lead before Team USA began to chip away. Alex Roelse (Maarssen, Netherlands/UCLA/Bruin) scored one of his two goals to make it 5-3 and Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/Stanford) followed with a score with under a minute to play in the half to draw Team USA within one at 5-4. After Serbia retook a two goal lead, Jackson Kimbell (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/Newport) found the back of the net right before half to leave Serbia ahead just one at 6-5.
Much like Thursday night in Riverside, the third quarter belonged entirely to Team USA. Moses and the defense held Serbia scoreless while Team USA mustered three straight goals, two from John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC) to take an 8-6 lead going to the fourth. The one goal Mann didn’t score, he drew a penalty, allowing Tony Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) to hit.
That set the stage for the back and forth action in the final eight minutes. Roelse scored his second goal to put Team USA up 9-7 with 4:13 to play only to see Serbia score three straight to take a 10-9 lead. Prlainovic scored two of the goals as Serbia roared back into the match. After Prlainovic’s final goal with 1:13 remaining all that was left was Cupido saving the day with two tallies in the final minute.
Both teams struggled on the power play with Team USA going 5/17 and Serbia just 3/11. Team USA went 1/1 on penalty shots while Serbia did not attempt a penalty shot.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 11 (2, 3, 3, 3) L. Cupido 2, J. Mann 2, T. Azevedo 2, A. Roelse 2, A. Bowen 1, J. Samuels 1, J. Kimbell 1
Serbia 10 (3, 3, 0, 4) A. Prlainovic 3 S. Rasovic 2, D. Mandic 1, F. Filipovic 1, V. Rasovic 1, G. Subotic, N. Jaksic 1
Saves – USA – M. Moses 10 – SRB – G. Pijetlovic 7, B. Mitrovic 6
6×5 – USA – 5/17 – SRB – 3/11
Penalties – USA – 1/1 – SRB – 0/0
Swimming news courtesy of USA Water Polo.