Team USA’s U-19 team won their 7th consecutive gold medal this morning with a 10-8 win over Team Canada. USA entered play undefeated but lost two games, one to Team Canada and one to the Iroquois Nationals. The first time USA and Canada faced each other Canada outplayed the United States and won 15-13.
The U.S. dominated on face-offs throughout the game, winning 17 of 22. Charlie Raffa (Maryland) won 10 of the face-offs and Tyler Barbarich (Delaware) won 7.
The tournament’s Most Outstanding Attackman Matt Kavanagh (Notre Dame) added 4 points in the Championship game for the U.S. Ryan Tucker (Virginia) also added 2 goals for Team USA. Connor Buczek (Cornell), Daniel Eipp (Harvard), Kyle Keenan (Duke), Joseph Leonard (St Johns), Michael Tagliaferri (North Carolina) and Steven Pontrello (North Carolina) also added goals for Team USA.
In goal, Zach Oliveri (UMass) got the start and made 5 times while in cage. Also getting playtime for the U.S. was Kyle Turri (Duke), who made 4 saves during the game.
Team USA entered the world games undefeated and favored to repeat. After cruising to wins over Australia and England, USA was then shocked by Team Canada in overtime 15-13. Team USA got another surprise after they lost to the Iroquois Nationals also 15-13. USA’s coach Tim Floyd was very excited after winning the gold, because when pool play started, Coach Floyd was being questioned by critics about the team’s composition among other things.
