2023 World U20 Championship Tournament Site
OTOPENI, Romania — Princeton University goalkeeper West Temkin (Fr., Alamo, Calif./Campolindo) added to a week which now 46 saves in five games as he made 12 stops to help the United States manage Montenegro, 10-9, in the quarterfinals of the 22nd World U20 Championships quarterfinals in Otopeni, near Bucharest, Romania.
Temkin – who made eight saves versus Greece (13-10 W), five against Hungary (12-6 L), 10 facing Serbia (8-7 L) and 11 more in topping Australia (11-8 W) – and the rest of the Americans will return to the water at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday, June 16, in the first of two guaranteed rematches in the tournament to take on Hungary in the semifinals. The Hungarians punched their ticket into the final four by upending Italy, 9-5.
In the other semifinal, Greece – which claimed an 11-10 penalty shot win versus Spain – will seek to stymie Serbia – which knocked off Croatia in a 16-15 shootout win. No matter the outcome of the United States contest versus Hungary, Team USA is ensured to clash with either Greece or Serbia in a placement game (First or Third) on Saturday, June 17.
Facing Montenegro, the Americans shocked the world by topping one of the championship favorites.
Trailing 2-0 by the mid-point of the first quarter following strikes at 5:19 and 4:51 (penalty shot), Team USA responded with a scoring flurry by burying four consecutive natural markers at the 4:27, 3:18, 2:34 and 1:40 marks, respectively, to acquire a 4-2 lead. Montenegro terminated the run prior to the close of the opening eight minutes via another penalty shot to shrink the deficit to 4-3 with 1:05 left on the clock.
An American man-up strike 33 seconds into the second quarter pushed the margin to 5-3, but Montenegro answered at 1:15 to again close with a goal at 5-4. The teams exchanged scoring blows in the final 60 seconds as the United States (48 seconds) and Montenegro (one second) both dented the twine one final time in the first half to permit the Americans to enter halftime clinging to a narrow 6-5 lead.
The teams continued to slug it out in the third quarter as the Americans punched in shots at 6:04, 4:21 (man-up) and 11 seconds, while Montenegro responded at 5:37 and 31 seconds (man-up) to permit the North America squad to possess a 9-7 lead through 24 minutes of action.
The United States added to its lead with 4:25 left in regulation by torquing in a man-up chance to push ahead 10-7. The goal proved decisive as Montenegro found its scoring stroke in the final four minutes to put away penalty shot (3:33) and man-up (2:27) tallies. However, Temkin preserved the victory for the Americans by swatting down a pair of shots in the final minute – including a bid with seven seconds to go.
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