USA Men's National Team Lose to Montenegro in FINA World League Super Final

Chelyabinsk, Russia - June 13 - The USA Men's National Team lost their first match of the FINA World League Super Final, falling to Montenegro 9-4.  John Mann (Newport Beach, CA/California/NYAC) scored two goals in the loss. Team USA moves on to the quarterfinal round where they will take on China at 2pm local time/1am pst. A victory in the quarterfinals will put the United States into the semifinals where they will be assured of playing for a medal. 

The match was close in the first and it was the United States striking first to take a 1-0 lead on a goal from  Alex Obert (Stockton, CA/UOP/Pacific Polo) roughly two minutes into the match. Montenegro responded with two straights to take a 2-1 lead but Mann answered at the end of the period to tie the score at 2-2 going to the second. In the second period the United States scored first again on another Mann goal for a 3-2 lead. Montenegro responded and scored two straight to pull into halftime leading 4-3. 

Team USA battled back once more scoring the opening goal of the third period from  Janson Wigo (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Stanford/NYAC) to even the match at 4-4. That would be the end of the USA scoring on this day as the Montenegro defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way. Montenegro went ahead 7-4 by the end of the third and then added two more goals to close out the match leading 9-4.  

The United States went 1/9 on power plays while Montenegro was 3/6. The semifinals and third/first place matches will be webcast live on USAWaterPolo.org courtesy of Universal Sports. To access the webcast, click here. Both days will start broadcasting at 4:30am pst. 

Scoring
USA 4 (2, 1, 1, 0) J. Mann 2, A. Obert 1, J. Wigo 1
MNE 9 (2, 2, 3, 2) 
6x5 - USA - 1/9 - MNE 3/6