USA Men Outlast Japan In Opening Match At World Cup Division 1 Tournament – USA Water Polo

Bucharest, Romania – January 6 – The USA Senior Men’s National Team started strong and held on late as they beat Japan 19-17 to open play at the World Cup Division 1 tournament. Max Irving led the offensive charge with five goals while Adrian Weinberg recorded 13 saves in net. Team USA returns to the pool on Tuesday when they take on the host nation of Romania at 11:00am et/8:00am pt. The match will stream LIVE on Recast PPV with LIVE statistics courtesy of World Aquatics.

Team USA came out ready to play as Dylan Woodhead, Tyler Abramson, and Irving (2) connected on four straight scores to open the ball game. Each side deposited two more goals to close the quarter, with Ryan Ohl and Ben Liechty each scoring for the first time in their respective Senior National Team debuts for a 6-2 lead after one. The second period began with back-to-back goals for Japan before Irving pushed the lead to three with his third of the day. Another pair of scores from the Japanese and goal from Irving followed to leave the United States up two. With two minutes remaining in the period, Japan halved the deficit prior to Abramson finding the back of the net and the Americans held a 9-7 lead at the break.

In the second half, Japan tied the score straight away with two goals in just over one minute of action. From there, two more Senior National Team debutants scored their first goals as Corbin Stanley and Nicolas Saveljic retook the lead for Team USA. Through the remainder of the quarter, Japan put four goals away while Liechty and Marko Vavic scored for the U.S. leaving the score tied at 13-13. Abramson and Liechty put the Americans back in front to start the final frame but Japan leveled quickly. At a critical juncture, Irving and Ohl (2) pushed Team USA out in front by three and they would hold on late after another goal from Vavic secured the 19-17 victory.

The United States went 3/7 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while Japan went 7/13 on power plays and 0/1 on penalties.   

Scoring – Stats

USA 19 (6, 3, 4, 6) M. Irving 5, T. Abramson 3, B. Liechty 3, R. Ohl 3, M. Vavic 2, D. Woodhead 1, N. Saveljic 1, C. Stanley 1

JPN 17 (2, 5, 6, 4) Y. Inaba 3, S. Adachi 3, T. Watanabe 3, K. Inoue 3, M. Takata 3, T. Suzuki 1, D. Ogihara 1

Saves: USA – A. Weinberg 13 – JPN – T. Nishimura 11

6×5: USA – 3/7 – JPN – 7/13

Penalties: USA – 1/1 – JPN – 0/1