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U.S. Men's National Team displays growth and remains confident in the process

Aug. 27, 2014, 3:53 p.m. (ET)

CHULA VISTA, Calif. - Wednesday, August 27 - Another opportunity to gain experience and perform was available to the U.S. Men's National Team today during the squad's fourth match of a the summer series against Argentina. Although a close score in the first half, Argentina continued to further the gap until a final score of USA 2, Argentina 7 was recorded. 

Team USA started very well with Michael Barminski (Ventura, Calif.) blasting a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and into the goal to take the lead in the opening minute. This was a great start to a great half where Argentina matched the field goal and took a chance on a penalty corner to take the lead at half time USA 1, Argentina 2. USA had a couple of critical moments of their own but were not able to capitalize on these in the first half.

In the second half the momentum swung in Argentina's favor with four goals in 15 minutes putting the game out of reach. During this period Argentina showed their attacking prowess which the USA had stifled for the majority of the series to date. USA regained their composure to score in the 61st minute through a field goal by Tyler Sundeen (Simi Valley, Calif.). Argentina connected to the backboard again in the 68th minute their 4th corner of the game to close match out USA 2, Argentina 7.

Spencer Reed (Ventura, Cali.) and Andy Zayac (Hayward, Calif.) split time in the goal today 

"The way this series has been played by our team has been very encouraging," said Head Coach Chris Clements. "We made some uncharacteristic errors for 15 minutes today and Argentina showed their experience during this period of play which showed on the scoreboard. We are confident in the process we have in place and our team sees the big picture with where we are at." 

Team USA will face Argentina again on Friday, August 29 at 10:45 a.m. PST for their last match of the summer series. In their first game against Argentina, the U.S. gave a strong performance, but was unable to totally shut down the Argentina offense and walked away with a 1-4 loss. The second match proved to be another epic battle but resulted in a second victory for Argentina with a score of 1-4. Yesterday, the U.S. Men's National Team hammered hard to cage, closing the goal deficit from matches prior, but were edged out by Argentina with a final score of 3-5.  

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