BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Salem International University standout Michal Izdinsky did not score as France suffered an 11-8 loss to the United States of America in the 13th Place game of the 2017 FINA World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday, July 25.
France, competing at the FINA Championship for the first time in 26-years, concludes the tournament with a 1-4 record following earlier losses to Italy (18-9 L; Monday, July 17), Australia (11-10 L; Wednesday, July 19) and Hungary (13-7 L; Friday, July 21) in Group B play prior to claiming a 10-6 defeat of Canada to make the 13th place contest.
The game experienced a controversial ending due to an officiating call. Trailing 10-8 with a minute to play, the French had a goal waived off. France took a timeout, set-up a play for a five-meter shot, received a call and buried a strike to move within 10-9 with under sixty seconds. However, the trailing referee called an exclusion foul off the ball, thus negating everything France had set out to do. The score expanded to the 11-8 final as France refused to defend the United States’ final attack as Maxwell Irving connected on the final blow with one second left on the clock.
France led three times during the contest by holding margins of 1-0 and 4-3 prior to notching a 6-5 margin midway through the third quarter. The United States grabbed the lead at 7-6 prior to going up 8-6. France flushed back-to-back tallies to knot the score at eight-all with 4:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Americans drilled in consecutive markers to move ahead 10-8 and set-up the dramatic finish.
For the United States, Luca Cupido netted a hat-trick, while Nicholas Carniglia, Alexander Bowen and Irving each put away pairs of points. Thomas Dunstan and Alex Roelse recorded solo scores as the United States recorded its lowest finish at FINA World Championship erasing the nation’s previous worst placement of 11th in 2005 at Montreal.
France, which last made the FINA Championship field in 1991 in Perth, Australia and finished 12th, Ugo Crousillat and Mehdi Marzouki both scored twice. Remi Saudadier, Igor Kovacevic, Thibaut Simon and Alexandre Camarasa each chipped in solo goals.
Izdinsky finishes the tournament with two goals as he put away one against both Hungary and Australia. He did not play against Canada due to an injury.
