GWANGJU, South Korea — The USA opened Preliminary Group B action with a 13-12 win over Japan on July 2 at the 2015 World University Games at the Yeomju Indoor Aquatics Center.

Center Matt Farmer got the Americans on the board first when he scored from two meters off a nice feed from attacker Jack Fellner at the 6:41 mark of the first period. But Japan would take a 3-1 lead after a power play goal from Atsuto Iida (4:33), a goal from long distance by Seiya Adachi (3:20) and another power play score from MitsuruTakata (0:28). USA would close the gap to 3-2 to end the scoring in the first with a goal from the front court by Fellner (0:04) off an assist by attacker Ryder Roberts.

Farmer would again open the scoring in the second period with his second goal from set off a feed from Roberts to tie the match at 3-3 (6:34). Team USA would regain the lead at 4-3 with their third goal at two meters from center Alec Zwaneveld (assist by attacker Maxwell Irving) at the 5:39 mark of the second quarter. Shu Hamada scored Japan’s third exclusion goal to knot things up at 4-4 (3:49). Fellner would answer with his second goal, USA’s first 6-on-5 score of the match (1:27). But Atsushi Arai scored on a counter to tie the score at 5-5 (0:27). The Americans called timeout and 10 seconds later drew an exclusion. Defender Chancellor Ramirez was set up by defender Anthony Daboub and punched in a power play goal with two seconds remaining to give Team USA a 6-5 lead at the break. 

Attacker Maxwell Irving pushed the American’s lead to 7-5 with a bar down goal (7:00) to open the scoring in the third period. Yuto Ono made it 7-6 (6:32) with a counter attack strike. Roberts then made a spin inside and finished it off for his first goal of the match to push the lead back to two (6:05). But Japan would score two straight to tie it at 8-8. USA would answer with two straight goals to take a 10-8 lead into the fourth. After Roberts scored his second on a counter attack (2:18), Fellner completed his hat trick with a top shelf finish off a nice pass from Farmer at three meters (1:27).

Japan would not go away quietly as it scored the first two goals of the fourth to tie things up at 10-10. Farmer’s power play goal would give him a hat trick and the American’s an 11-10 lead with 4:11 remaining. Iida would complete a hat trick for Japan to even the match at 11-11 (3:40). Team USA would then make a switch in the cage as Alex Wolf would replace starting goalkeeper Alek Ruzic. Iida was later charged with a penalty foul and Roberts would convert the penalty shot, giving him a hat trick, to put USA up 12-11 with 2:07 remaining. After Ono hit back-to-back posts on shots for Japan, the United States drew an exclusion and Fellner would score his fourth of the match, and ultimately the game winner, on a power play off a feed from Irving to push the lead to 13-11 with 1:00 left in regulation. Takata would score his second of the evening to close it to 13-12 with just 0:09 remaining, as Team USA would run out the clock for the victory.

Fellner would lead all scorers with four goals and Team USA would have three players complete hat tricks (Roberts and Farmer each scored three goals). Fellner also added two assists and one field block to his credit. Roberts would end with a team-high three assists and three steals. Ruzic was credited with four saves.

Both teams were 4-for-8 on power plays while USA converted the game’s only penalty shot.

Team USA returns to action on Saturday (July 4) at 2:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. on July 3, Pacific) when they face Turkey in Group B action.

USA vs. Japan (World University Games)

	1	2	3	4	F
USA	2	4	4	3	13
Japan	3	2	3	4	12

USA Goals: Jack Fellner 4, Matt Farmer 3, Ryder Roberts 3, Maxwell Irving, Chancellor Ramirez, Alec Zwaneveld
USA Saves: Alek Ruzic 4

Japan Goals: Atsuto Iida 3, Mitsuru Takata 2, Shu Hamada 2, Yuto Ono 2, Kenta Araki, Atsushi Arai, Seiya Adachi
Japan Saves: Tomoyoshi Fukushima 5

Courtesy UCLA Athletics