2023 World U20 Championship Tournament Site
OTOPENI, Romania — Princeton University goalkeeper West Temkin (Fr., Alamo, Calif./Campolindo) made eight saves for the United States, but Hungary exploited 4-1 and 5-2 scoring advantages in the first and fourth quarters, respectively, to outlast the Americans, 13-9, in the semifinals 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), 11 more in topping Australia (11-8 W) and a dozen in taking out Montenegro in the quarterfinals (10-9 W) – raises his tournament save total to 54 in six games (nine per game).
Due to the loss, Team USA falls into the Third Place game slated for 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, June 17, versus Greece. The Greeks fell to Serbia, 14-8, in the other semifinal.
The third place clash will mark the second meeting of the tournament between the United States and Greece and serve as an event bookend as the Greeks dropped a 13-10 game to Temkin and the Americans on Saturday, June 10, in both teams’ opening game in Group B competition.
The title game is slated to occur at 12:30 p.m. Eastern as Serbia tangles with Hungary. The game will mark the third encounter between Serbia and Hungary within two weeks. Hungary won both previous two matches by claiming a 12-11 victory in Belgrade leading up the championship prior to turning back Serbia 17-15 in a penalty shootout during Group B play.
The Hungarians never trailed in topping the American thanks to building an early 2:0 lead via strikes at 7:07 (even-strength) and 5:50 (man-up). The Americans scored their first goal with 1:43 left in the opening eight minutes via a power-play, but Hungary made the Americans pay for errors with man-up (1:21) and fast break strikes (31 seconds) to acquire a 4-1 lead.
The teams exchanged scores throughout the second quarter as Hungary connected on penalty shot (5:34) and even-strength (2:23) markers, while the United States dented the twine with man-up (2:53) and penalty shot (38 seconds) heaves to make it a 6-3 game at the midway point.
Hungary appeared primed to run away with the contest in the opening minute of the third quarter as the team swished an even-strength bid with 7:08 on the clock to widen the gap to 7-3.
However, four consecutive man-up goals by Team USA at 6:43, 4:49, 3:43 and 1:18 deadlocked the teams at seven-all and put the Americans on the cusp of pulling ahead for the first time in the contest. The momentum was terminated with 36 seconds left in the quarter as the Hungarians put away a natural marker to go back in front 8-7.
The Americans managed to again pull even with 6:23 left in the fourth quarter via another man-up strike, but the Hungarians hammered in even-strength (5:44, 3:15) and man-up (4:06, 2:13) goals to build a 12-8 lead with approximately two minutes left in regulation.
Another man-up score trimmed the United States’ deficit to 12-9 with 1:01 on the clock, but a five-meter penalty shot with 35 seconds remaining iced the 13-9 victory for Hungary.
Streaming coverage of all games at the World U20 Championship is available by CLICKING HERE.
