Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Walnut, CA – June 8 – The USA Men’s National Team beat Australia 13-12 today at Mt. San Antonio College. Ryder Dodd led the charge for Team USA with five goals, including the game-winner, while Bernardo Herzer went the distance in net to record 12 saves. Team USA will play against Australia again on Wednesday night at JSerra Catholic High School at 10:00pm et/7:00pm pt. Tickets to the match are available here. The match will stream LIVE on Overnght with stats from 6-8 Sports.
Australia jumped out to an early lead in this game as the visitors scored four in the first quarter behind Nathan Power (2), Jacob Mercep, and Matthew Byrnes. Team USA managed just one goal from Chase Dodd who converted a power play opportunity with a nice skip shot and the Aussies led 4-1 after one. In the second period, the Americans began to fight back. Ryder Dodd and Nicolas Saveljic scored early before Jett Taylor recorded his first career goal with the Senior National Team. Ryder Dodd converted on a five meter attempt late in the period for the final goal. The visitors scored thrice in the period from Mercep, Marcus Berehulak, and Angus Lambie to hold a 7-5 lead at halftime.
Team USA flipped the game on its head in the third quarter. Dominic Brown, Jake Ehrhardt, Hannes Daube, Dylan Woodhead, and Ryder Dodd all found the back of the net offensively while the team defense held strong to allow zero goals from Australia, leaving the United States ahead 10-7 after three. In the final frame, Tristan Glanznig put one home for the Aussies early but Ryder Dodd answered shortly after. From there, Luka Krstic and Lambie cut into the deficit before Chase Dodd fired a rocket cross cage for a goal to push the Americans back up by two. Mercep and Krstic each scored natural goals to level the score with 0:19 remaining. The United States called for a timeout and then put the ball in Ryder Dodd’s hands on its final possession and he did the rest. After a series of fakes to either side, Ryder Dodd unloaded a rocket into the upper right corner for a game-winning goal with less than one second left. Australia would have one final heave from half tank but Ryder Dodd was there again with a field block to secure the 13-12 victory.
Team USA went 4/8 on power plays and 3/5 on penalties while Australia went 0/6 on power plays and 1/2 on penalties.
Scoring – Stats
USA 13 (1, 4, 5, 3) R. Dodd 5, C. Dodd 2, H. Daube 1, D. Woodhead 1, N. Saveljic 1, J. Ehrhardt 1, D. Brown 1, J. Taylor 1
AUS 12 (4, 3, 0, 5) J. Mercep 3, N. Power 2, A. Lambie 2, L. Krstic 2, M. Byrnes 1, M. Berehulak 1, T. Glanznig 1
Saves – USA – B. Herzer 12 – AUS – L. Baker 10, N. Porter 8
6×5 – USA – 4/8 – AUS – 0/6
Penalties – USA – 3/5 – AUS – 1/2
