The U.S. played close with Greece for most of Thursday’s pool play contest, but an inability to capitalize on extra player shots cost the Americans in a 13-11 loss.
Team USA was 1-for-12 on extra player shots, while Greece was 5-for-8. The rest of the contest was evenly matched, as both teams scored four action shot goals, and the U.S. scored on all three penalty shot attempts and had five second chance goals.
U.S. goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg tied the score at the end of the first quarter with an incredible goal at the buzzer. Weinberg made a save with just a few seconds left and threw the ball the length of the pool and past Greek keeper Emmanouil Zerdevas to even the score at 4-4.
SEE MORE: U.S. keeper Adrian Weinberg scores full-pool goal at buzzer
The U.S. again scored in the final seconds of the second quarter. Trailing by two with 18 seconds left, Greece was called for a penalty foul, giving Marko Vavic a penalty shot. Vavic came through with ease, and Team USA went into the half down, 7-6.
At the start of the third, Dylan Woodhead put through a goal on a rebound, and two minutes later Ryder Dodd tipped in a blocked shot for an extra player goal to put the U.S. ahead, 9-8, its first lead since early in the first quarter. Greece quickly responded with a penalty shot to tie the score for the fifth time, and added two more goals to go into the fourth up, 11-9.
Ioannis Fountoulis scored midway through the fourth to put Greece up by four, their largest lead of the game.
Max Irving and Alex Bowen led the U.S. with two goals each. Both of Bowen’s scores came on penalty shots. Weinberg had eight saves in goal.
Zerdevas had a tournament-high 16 saves. Stylianos Argyropoulos Kanakakis led all scorers with four goals.
The U.S. (1-2) will need to get back in the win column with two games remaining to avoid elimination after pool play. They’ll next take on Montenegro on Saturday at 10:35 a.m. ET. Greece (3-0), the team atop the Group A standings, will face defending world champions Croatia on Saturday at 6:05 a.m. ET.
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