BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Salem International University standout and French Olympian Michal Izdinsky did not compete as France fell to Serbia, 10-3, in the semifinals of the 29th Summer Universiade/University Games at the Taipei Songshan Sports Center in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan).
The loss drops France into the Bronze Medal game against Italy on Wednesday, August 30, at Noon local time. Italy fell in the other semifinal by an 11-9 final score against the Russian Federation.
France, which will notch either a Third or Fourth Place finish in the 16-team (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei, France, South Korea, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Hungary, Serbia, the United States, Russia, Japan, Romania) tournament field, falls to 5-1 at the University Games.
Without Izdinsky, the second leading scorer at the tournament behind teammate Charles Cannone, France jumped out to a 1-0 lead with 7:07 left in the first quarter, but could not keep pace with a Serbian squad that executed for a pair of goals over the remainder of the opening frame to snag a 2-1 lead.
The margin ballooned to 5-1 by halftime thanks to a 3-0 outburst by the Serbs in the second quarter. Serbia repeated the feat in the third quarter with another 3-0 output to go ahead 8-1. France was unable to overcome the offensive onslaught as the teams traded pairs of tallies in the fourth quarter for the 10-3 final score.
Overall, Serbia used center (one-for-four), man-up (three-for-five), five-meter penalty (two-for-two) and counter-attack (four-for-four) shots to overwhelm the French and earn a date with Russia in the title game on Wednesday, August 30.
Nikola Jaksic, Dusan Vasic and Gavril Subotic keyed Serbia with pairs of goals, while Ognjen Stojanovic, Dorde Lazic, Viktor Rasovic and Strahinja Rasovic each notched single markers.
For France, Iliya Mustar led the way with a pair of goals, while Andrea De Nardi contributed a single score.
