Courtesy UCLA Athletics

GWANGJU, South Korea – July 10, 2015– Team USA (4-1) concluded Group B action at the 2015 World University Games with a hard-fought 12-8 victory over China (0-4-1) on July 10 at the Yeomju Indoor Aquatics Center.

Attackers Jack Grover and Maxwell Irving each scored three goals to lead the Americans past China. Irving used only three shots to complete his hat trick.

But it was attacker Ryder Roberts that got Team USA on the board first (7:44) with a penalty shot right out of the gate. Changxin Hu tied it at 1-1 with a power play goal (5:06) and Nianxiang Liang scored at set (4:22) to give China its only lead of the day at 2-1. Grover would score his first of the day on a counter attack (3:06) to tie it up and then attacker Jack Fellner gave the Americans a 3-2 lead with a goal (1:32) from the front court off an assist by attackerAustin Rone to end the scoring in the first period.

There was no scoring but a lot of defense in the second period as the U.S. made five saves compared to two for China as Team USA held a 3-2 lead at the break.

The third period was completely opposite as the Americans won the period, 6-4. Zhihao Pan tied the game at 3-3 with a goal at full strength (7:11). Then Fellner set up Chancellor Ramirez for a score (6:34) and Grover set up Roberts for his second of the match (5:42) and the United State led 5-3. But China came roaring back to tie the game at 5-5 with two 6-on-5 opportunities (5:08, 4:09). Team USA would answer with three straight goals, the first set up by Ramirez for Irving’s first goal (3:48). Fellner then got an assist on Grover’s second goal (2:35) and Grover completed his hat trick (1:48) to put the U.S. out in front, 8-5. Hu scored China’s third power play goal of the period (1:03) to make it 8-6. But Irving would score the eventual game-winner (0:23) on a power play to end the scoring in the third with the Americans leading 9-6.

Rone would score his first goal of the tournament to open the scoring in the fourth (7:16) to push the lead to 10-6. The two teams would alternate scoring for the rest of the match as Irving completed his hat trick on a power play goal (1:50) that made it 11-7 and Ramirez scored his second from the front court (1:01) to provide the 12-8 final.

Alex Wolf started in the cage for Team USA and made nine saves, stopping nine of China’s 15 shots (60.0%). Alek Ruzic replaced Wolf with 7:16 left in the fourth and stopped four of the six shots he faced (66.7%).

The United States was 2-for-2 on power plays while China was 5-for-7. The USA made the only penalty shot of the game.

Team USA finished second (eight points) in Group B behind Russia (10 points) and ahead of third-place Serbia (five points). The Americans will face France (4-2), which finished in third in Group A (which had seven teams compared to six in Group B) in the quarterfinals on Saturday (July 11) at 3:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. on July 10, Pacific).

NOTES: UCLA’s Gordon Marshall (eight goals) and Australia (4-1-1) finished second in Group A and will face Serbia in the quarterfinals of the medal rounds at 2:00 p.m., just before Team USA takes the pool. Roberts is tied for fifth in the tournament in scoring (14 goals) while Fellner is 10th (13 goals). Wolf is tied for ninth in the tournament in saves (35).

USA vs. China (World University Games)

	1	2	3	4	F
USA	3	0	6	3	12
China	2	0	4	2	8

USA Goals: Maxwell Irving 3, Jack Grover 3, Ryder Roberts 2, Chancellor Ramirez 2, Jack Fellner 1, Austin Rone 1
USA Saves: Alex Wolf 9, Alec Ruzik 4

China Goals: Changxin Hu 2, Zhongxian Chen 2, Nianxiang Liang 1, Zekai Xie 1, Zhihao Pan 1, Xiaoji Zhu 1
China Saves: Zhenhui Li 8