Medal Round Bound!

The Match Reports page has full coverage of today's game against Austria, but here's the gist:

Team USA won 3-0 in a completely dominating performance. Avery Long, Wes Thompson, and Larry Mills scored, while Steven Summerfelt recorded a pair of assists. Austria was held to just one shot on goal. Some pictures from the match:

Terrell Nowlin on the attack

Brandon Chan pressuring an Austrian winger as Wes Thompson looks on

Shaun Ridley gets a shot off just before the challenge

The Americans celebrate their third goal

After two matches, Team USA now leads the Group:

TEAM              W      L      T      Pts    GF     GA
USA                  2       0       0        6       5       1
Spain                 2       0      0         6       6       3
Canada              0       2       0        0       2       4
Austria              0       2       0        0       2       7

The team will complete group play against Spain tomorrow morning (3:15am EST). But regardless of the outcome, the U.S. and Spain will meet again on Saturday at 12:45 local time (5:45 EST) for the gold medal of the Level 5 tournament.

Because the two teams will meet again on Saturday, tomorrow's match will be approached tentatively by both managers, who are likely to rest starters and conceal their gameplans for Saturday. Spain is not as deep as Team USA, going 6-deep instead of 8-deep, and their top two players have played 110 out of 120 minutes. Tomorrow's post will explore the tactics of the gold medal match in greater detail, but for now, we conclude with some pictures of celebration:

After the final whistle!