The Final Four
The team continues to do well here in Italy. We struggled early against the Germans but our team defense really played well for four quarters. After trailing early, we fought back to tie the score at 2 and that is where the first half ended. I told the team at half that we were playing tight. I think that the German goalie (one of the best in the world) was in their heads. I also told them that I thought the way the officials were calling the game that we were going to have to score some naturals goals.
We came out in the second half and played very well. Jesse Smith started the scoring off and then Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers and JW Krumpholtz all scored natural goals in the third quarter to open the game up. It was a great quarter as our defense continued to dominate the Germans. We started the third quarter up 7 – 3 and ended up winning 8 – 5. One bad stat for the game was our 6 on 5 which was 3 for 10 for the game. Not too good and definitely an area that we will have to improve on in order to win the next two games.
Merrill played a very solid game in the cage. You can see his confidence growing as the tournament goes on. As he gets better the defense in front of him seems to get better. Yesterday it was as if they were all working together. Coach K defined defense in his book Gold Standards as “five guys attacking as one”. Yesterday we were seven guys attacking as one. It was awesome to watch.
Today is an off day – so we had a light training at noon and then we will watch video for tomorrow’s game and go to training again tonight. We will match up with Spain in the semi final game on Thursday night. Everyone said that the game time will not be changed so we are set to play at 9:00 pm here in Italy (noon back home). The other quarter final winners were Serbia and Croatia. Serbia beat Hungary in overtime and Croatia beat Romania 7 – 5. So Serbia and Croatia will face off in the first semi final tomorrow night.
I have received so many emails from back home - wishing us luck and congratulating us after each win. These are much appreciated - keep them coming. We need all of your positive thoughts and energy coming our way. What is exciting is that I believe we have not played our best yet. I feel like we are peaking at the right time. We really have not had too much production from our centers. Bailey has been sick and JW is just beginning to find his timing and power again. Our 6 on 5 can definitely be more efficient also. 3 for 10 will not get the job done. What is great is that we are finding ways to win. If one area of our game is not working right then we have been able to adapt and find other ways to be successful. Overall our defense has been strong and we seem to be getting more confident as the tournament goes on. So here we go into the final four. We learned some valuable lessons last year as a team and I believe that this will be another factor that is on our side. WE CAN WIN THIS TOURNAMENT.
See you at the pool.
Coach
We came out in the second half and played very well. Jesse Smith started the scoring off and then Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers and JW Krumpholtz all scored natural goals in the third quarter to open the game up. It was a great quarter as our defense continued to dominate the Germans. We started the third quarter up 7 – 3 and ended up winning 8 – 5. One bad stat for the game was our 6 on 5 which was 3 for 10 for the game. Not too good and definitely an area that we will have to improve on in order to win the next two games.
Merrill played a very solid game in the cage. You can see his confidence growing as the tournament goes on. As he gets better the defense in front of him seems to get better. Yesterday it was as if they were all working together. Coach K defined defense in his book Gold Standards as “five guys attacking as one”. Yesterday we were seven guys attacking as one. It was awesome to watch.
Today is an off day – so we had a light training at noon and then we will watch video for tomorrow’s game and go to training again tonight. We will match up with Spain in the semi final game on Thursday night. Everyone said that the game time will not be changed so we are set to play at 9:00 pm here in Italy (noon back home). The other quarter final winners were Serbia and Croatia. Serbia beat Hungary in overtime and Croatia beat Romania 7 – 5. So Serbia and Croatia will face off in the first semi final tomorrow night.
I have received so many emails from back home - wishing us luck and congratulating us after each win. These are much appreciated - keep them coming. We need all of your positive thoughts and energy coming our way. What is exciting is that I believe we have not played our best yet. I feel like we are peaking at the right time. We really have not had too much production from our centers. Bailey has been sick and JW is just beginning to find his timing and power again. Our 6 on 5 can definitely be more efficient also. 3 for 10 will not get the job done. What is great is that we are finding ways to win. If one area of our game is not working right then we have been able to adapt and find other ways to be successful. Overall our defense has been strong and we seem to be getting more confident as the tournament goes on. So here we go into the final four. We learned some valuable lessons last year as a team and I believe that this will be another factor that is on our side. WE CAN WIN THIS TOURNAMENT.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
1:16 PM
1 Comments:
pls dont forget two things:
1. the US team havent faced non of the REAL powerhouses (Hungary,Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro) this tournament yet...where the huge "confidence" and "fundamentals" could have been broken:)
2. Hungary lost against Serbia because of the cheating Italian refferrie Gomes giving man ups in the last 20 seconds of the 4th quoter and at the end of the overtime too, not mentioning the contra faults against Hungary all the time at the match. Heavy fighting is part of a battle like this, everyone is playing against the rules book in a war against Serbia. Hungary turned the game from 5-2 to 5-7. No other team in the world is able to do that against Serbia. So I would not forget about the olimpic champion...
I would suggest for Italy to learn to play waterpolo first before cheating games.
I wanna see the USA team playing against us (Hungary) we will see what they got from Cali.
Go USA!!! Now we are out, I will cheer for your team, love Tony's movements and skill, he is playing as he was born in Budapest.
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