Team USA Roster Unveiled for World University Games
LOS ANGELES -- Team USA has announced its roster for the 2015 World University Games, July 3-14, in Gwangju, South Korea.
America's team will be completely comprised of UCLA Bruins and will be guided by the 2014 ACWPC Coach of the Year, Adam Wright. He will travel with 13 players and two alternates to South Korea. The Americans are in Pool C with Russia and Turkey.
Team USA will be led by a trio of All-Americans, including a pair of defenders in third-teamer Anthony Daboub (20 goals) and honorable mention selection Chancellor Ramirez (17 goals). Another third-team honoree, attacker Ryder Roberts, finished fifth on the squad in scoring last year with 30 goals.
MPSF All-Academic Team selection Alec Zwaneveld and Matt Farmer are a pair of centers on the roster. Zwaneveld scored 16 goals and tallied 10 steals, six assists and was third on the team in exclusions drawn with 23, including three penalty shots this past season. Farmer registered 25 goals and was second on the team in exclusions drawn (33, two penalty) and tied for fifth in steals (21).
A trio of attackers that combined to score 55 goals and register 51 steals have made the squad. Jack Fellner (20 goals, 18 steals), Maxwell Irving (21 goals, 23 steals) and Jack Grover (14 goals, 10 steals) will greatly enhance Team USA's offense and solidify defense.
A trio of redshirt freshmen have also made the squad as attackers Kent Inoue and Austin Rone will bolster the team's front court while goalkeeper Alek Ruzic will vie for playing time in the cage after first team All-American Garrett Danner was a late scratch due to injury.
The final two spots will be filled by incoming freshmen in attacker Spencer Farrar and goalie Alex Wolf. Farrar is a three-time CIF Champion while being named first team All-CIF in 2013 while Wolf was a first team All-CIF performer in 2014 while being named the OC Register Player of the Year.
Utility Danny McClintick (43 goals, 39 assists), the 2014 NCAA Tournament MVP and center Patrick Woepse (19 goals, 18 exclusions drawn) will be accompanying the team as alternates.
"It is a very special honor for us as a program to represent the United States again," Wright said. "We had the opportunity to represent our country two years ago and it was a very special thing. I was blown away from how it has evolved from when I went in 1999 as an athlete to when I was there in 2013 as a coach."
The World University Games is the American term for “Universiade,” an international multi-sport event organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival, staged every two years in a different city around the world, representing both winter and summer competitions. It is second only in importance to the Olympic Games.
"I don't think our guys really knew what to expext two years ago," Wright added. "When you hear Team USA being called out and you march into a stadium filled with 90,000 spectators for the opening ceremonies, it really sets in that you are representing your country. We want to do that to the best of our ability."
Members of the UCLA men's water polo team represented Team USA at the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia and placed fifth with a 4-1-3 record. Team USA opened with an 8-8 draw against Brazil in pool play and then defeated Montenegro 9-8. Defending champions Serbia then handed the Americans a 9-5 defeat, but the U.S. would rally to post a 19-2 drubbing of Belgium. Italy survived a scare from the U.S. to close out preliminary round play with a 7-6 victory. Hungary defeated Team USA 12-7 in the quarterfinals. Team USA rebounded to defeat Australia, 11-8, to advance to the fifth-place game, where it defeated Japan 8-7. McClintick scored the game-winning goal on a power play with 1:13 remaining.
For the tournament, Paul Reynolds led the team in scoring with 18 goals (tied for second among all players in the tournament) and a team-best shooting percentage of 60.0 percent (18-for-30), which ranked third in the tournament. His 6-for-6 shooting on penalty shots was the most in the tournament without a miss and ranked third overall in penalty goals scored. Fellner (8-for-21, .381) and Lucas Reynolds (8-for-16, .500) tied for second with eight goals apiece.
Danner finished as the tournament's leading goalkeeper in saves with 90 (Russian goalie Evgeniy Kostrov was second with 75 saves. Danner's save percentage of 59.6 percent (stopped 90-of-151 opponent shots) led all 12 starting goalkeepers in the tournament. He also led all goalies with 15 steals.
The 2015 Summer Games in Gwangju City, South Korea will have U.S. representation in up to 21 sports by 550 people which will be, by far, the largest American team in the history of U.S. participation in the Games. By contrast, the 2013 American team had 400 athletes and staff in Kazan, Russia.
The USA won a total of 40 medals at the 2013 Kazan Summer Games, finishing sixth in the world. Many now-famous athletes have represented the United States in previous WUG competitions prior to gaining stardom in the Olympics and professional sports. These include such elite athletes as Michael Johnson (Track), Charles Barkley and Larry Bird (Men's Basketball), Matt Biondi and Michael Phelps (Swimming), and Lisa Leslie (Women's Basketball).
The Bruins finished the 2014 season by winning the program's ninth NCAA Championship and the school's 112th overall with a 9-8 victory over USC. UCLA finished the year with a 29-3 overall record after going 8-0 in the MPSF for the first time since 2004, coincidentally the last time the Bruins won a national title as well.