SAO PAULO — The USA Men’s National Team punched their ticket to the 2019 FINA World Championship in Gwangju, South Korea today with a 21-4 win over Argentina. The match, which was postponed yesterday after inclement weather, took place this morning in Brazil.
Team USA advances to the gold medal final of the FINA World Championship qualifier and will meet host Brazil today at 12:00pm et/9:00am pt. In the win over Argentina it was Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC) leading a balanced offensive attack with five goals while Alex Wolf (Huntington Beach, CA/UCLA/Bruin) and Drew Holland (Orinda, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) added 10 saves in net. To watch Team USA take on Brazil, click here for live streaming.
After defeating Argentina 22-7 to open play at the FINA World Championship qualifier, Team USA again jumped out to a larger lead early building an 8-1 advantage after the first. In the second period they outscored Argentina 4-1 to lead 12-2 at halftime. The USA defense was perfect in the third quarter holding Argentina scoreless while the offense tacked on five additional goals for a 17-2 advantage. Four more goals arrived in the fourth quarter on the way to the 21-4 victory.
Team USA went 6/8 on power plays and 1/3 on penalties while Argentina was 1/8 on the advantage and did not attempt a penalty. By reaching the final match with Team USA, Brazil has also qualified for the 2019 FINA World Championship.
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Scoring
USA 21 (8, 4, 5, 4) A. Bowen 5, A. Obert 3, J. Hooper 3, C. Ramirez 3, L. Cupido 2, M. Irving 2, H. Daube 1, B. Hallock 1, M. Vavic 1
ARG 4 (1, 1, 0, 2)
Saves – USA D. Holland 7, A. Wolf 3
6×5 – USA – 6/8 – ARG – 1/8
Penalties – USA – 1/3 – ARG – 0/0
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