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USA Men Revive "Miracle"; Down Russia, 3-2

Edinburgh, Scotland - With inspiration from a previous victory and a two-decade old "miracle", the U.S. men's field hockey team erupted for three goals in five minutes to defeat Russia, 3-2, and earn a spot in the 13th/14th place game at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament.
    After viewing a video of the USA ice hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympic Games earlier in the tournament, the inspired U.S. team  performed a miracle of its own by coming back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Russia for the second time in ten days and advance to its classification game against either Egypt or Bangladesh.
    Russia's Uri Safonov put his team on top midway through the first half with a penalty corner goal at the 23-minute mark, and added another penalty corner in the 31st minute to give Russia a 2-0 halftime lead.
    Looking to avenge a 1-0 loss to the U.S. earlier in the tournament, Russia held on to the lead through much of the second half before the USA's Jarred Martin converted a field goal in the 54th minute to pull the U.S. to within 2-1. The goal opened the gates for the three-goal barrage as Martin added another field goal two minutes later and Daraspreet Kainth scored the game winner at the 59 minute mark to give the U.S. the victory.
   The goals were the first by Martin in senior international play, while Kainth added his second game-winner of the tournament after converting for the lone goal in the first victory over Russia. Martin and Kainth are among ten members of the young US team who were not yet born or were less than a year old when the USA recorded its historic ice hockey victory in Lake Placid.

      The top seven teams at the Qualifier will earn spots in next year's World Cup. Spain, Argentina, Belgium and Poland have clinched spots in the World Cup by advancing to the Qualifier semifinals, while Canada, India, New Zealand and Japan will battle for the final three spots on Saturday and Sunday.