The USA Men’s Senior National Team picked up their second straight victory at the FINA World Cup with an 11-7 win over Montenegro to go 2-0 in group play. Bret Bonanni (Huntington Beach, CA/Stanford/Stanford), Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/Stanford) and John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC) scored two goals each in the win while Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) added 11 saves in net. Team USA finishes out group play on Thursday with a match against Serbia at 3:20am pst. A live webcast is available of all matches courtesy of FINA TV and can be accessed by clicking here. To visit the official tournament website, click here.
Team USA got off to a hot start against Montenegro, opening up a 3-0 lead after the first period. Montenegro battled back in the second period outscoring the United States 4-3 to draw within 6-4 at halftime. The United States had a big answer in the third period again blanking Montenegro 3-0 to grab a 9-4 advantage. Montenegro added three goals in the final period but the damage had been done by Team USA as they scored twice more on the way to the 11-7 victory.
The United States went 5/10 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while Montenegro was 2/6 on power plays and 1/2 on penalties.
Scoring
USA 11 (3, 3, 3, 2) B. Bonanni 2, A. Bowen 2, J. Mann 2, A. Obert 1, M. Rosenthal 1, L. Cupido 1, J. Samuels 1, N. McConnell 1
MNE 7 (0, 4, 0, 3)
Saves – USA – M. Moses 11
6×5 – USA – 5/10 – MNE – 2/6
Penalties – USA 1/1 – MNE – 1/2
Water Polo News / Swimming News courtesy of USA Water Polo.
