Andy Cohn (pictured), along with Scott Hogsett, Bryan Kirkland and Mark Zupan, were used heavily in the 25-23 U.S. victory over Canada Friday.

This game had revenge written all over it for the United States. The Americans had lost to Canada in the finals of the last World Championships in 2002 and also fell to the Canadians in the semifinals of the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Head coach James Gumbert (Austin, Texas) put Bryan Kirkland (Leeds, Ala.), Mark Zupan (Austin, Texas), Andy Cohn (Mesa, Ariz.) and Scott Hogsett (Phoenix, Ariz.) on the floor to start the game and though the U.S. has been using its deep and talented bench through most of this tournament, the brunt of the Canadian burden fell on the shoulders of these four.

"This is a line-up with a lot of experience and continuity in their level of play," said Gumbert. "They go out there and really believe in one another and fight for one another."

The U.S. came out in its trademark full-court press and managed to get three steals in a short span of just over a minute, grabbing an early three-goal lead.

But, Canada is also a team with a lot of experience and their early errors didn't do much to break their composure. Canada then turned the tables on the U.S., forcing two American turnovers late in the quarter and narrowing the gap to just one, 7-6, to end the first.

The second quarter began with Canada employing a new strategy on defense.

Instead of playing the fast-paced, up-and-down game the Americans wanted, the Canadians dropped back into the key on defense and forced the U.S. to work in the half-court. The strategy was working, wearing down and frustrating the United States.

With just over 2:30 to go in the half, and the U.S. clinging to a slim 11-10 lead, Canada's defensive pressure broke the United States and forced a turnover. The Canadians planned to run out the quarter and score a game-tying goal, but the U.S. stepped up its defensive intensity and Canada's Garrett Hickling threw the ball out of bounds on the final goal attempt. Instead of a tie game at the break, the U.S. capitalized on this mistake and got a last second goal from Zupan to take a 12-10 lead into halftime.

Despite this momentum shift right at the end of the quarter, the team had been rattled a bit in the second and Coach Gumbert knew his athletes needed refocusing.

"I reminded them that the second half has been the time when we perform out best," said Gumbert. "I also reassured them that, no matter what kind of game we were in, we could play it."

Gumbert's words seemed to inspire the team out of the gate, but about three minutes into the third, a U.S. turnover led to a goal by Canada's Patrice Simard that tied the game, 15-15. The U.S. scored right away to get the lead back and on Canada's next possession, Kirkland's tough defense on Ian Chan forced yet another turnover and an ensuing goal by Zupan got the U.S. back up by two, 17-15.

The final frame saw the U.S. look to beat Canada at its own game.

Defensively, the United States pulled off the press and dropped into the key. Incredibly tight defense by the U.S. caused the Canadians to have to take two consecutive timeouts and run 2:30 off the game clock before they were able to score. At this point, Canada was out of timeouts with more than four minutes still remaining in the game.

Strong key defense from the U.S. continued to force Canada to run time off the clock and, although a Fabien Lavoie goal with 40 seconds remaining got Canada within one, 24-23, too much time had ticked away. Zupan scored the final goal of the game and Canada's last possession ended with a Chan turnover.

"That's the best win I've had since the gold medal game at the Paralympics in 2000," said Kirkland. "This was about redemption for us and the experience we have on this team now is what helped make the difference in the outcome."

The United States will face New Zealand in Saturday's championship game. The Kiwis defeated Great Britain, 25-23, to advance to the final.

"It's important to make our guys understand they can't rest on what we did against Canada," said Gumbert. "New Zealand wants that gold medal just as much as we do and there's still work to be done."

For more information, or to request an athlete interview, please contact Susan Katz at susank@lakeshore.org.

Complete tournament results are available at www.wwrc2006.co.nz.