Team USA may no longer be in the hunt for a medal at the World University Games, but it's still in the midst of something special.

The team, which consists solely of club players from American colleges, was considered a heavy underdog coming into the biennial Games.

It was slated to take on the likes of Austria, which has four players with NHL experience on its roster.

Still, with yesterday's 4-3 win over Korea, the USA has already done something no other previous U.S. team has done at the Games -- win a pair of contests.

It may not sound like much. But ever since the ACHA replaced the NCAA as the United States' representative in 2000, the USA has only managed to win once a year at the World University Games.

"I've said it all along: I think this is the most skilled and deepest team that we've brought over," USA head coach Chad Cassel said.

The U.S. has cemented a spot to play for ninth place and will square off against either China or Ukraine on Friday.

Finland knocked Team USA out of medal contention on Monday by edging the Americans in a close 5-4 contest.

According to Cassel, Team USA dominated the flow of the Finland game and physically controlled the opposition -- with the exception of a crucial 10-minute stretch.

U.S. goalie Michael DeGeorge, who came in to replace Mark Turnipseed halfway through the second period, allowed two goals in the first 10 minutes of the final frame to put the score at 5-2.

Team USA bounced back with two scores of its own, but by then it was too late for a comeback.

"The second period was our best period of the tournament. We just absolutely dominated them," Cassel said. "But we came out in the third, and we were flat and just didn't play well.

"That probably cost us the game."

Goaltending didn't help either. Cassel called it the "biggest question mark" of the squad's play.

DeGeorge was awarded the start against Korea after Lindenwood's Turnipseed struggled through two periods of play versus the Finns.

DeGeorge didn't fare much better.

He stopped 22 pucks but allowed a trio of scores, as the U.S. was still able to pull off the one-goal victory. DeGeorge is currently ranked 12th (out of 14) in terms of save percentage during the Games.

The only two goaltenders who have fared worse: Korea's Sun Ki Kim and China's Long Hai Cao, who are currently allowing an average of over 10 goals per game.

Needless to say, that made Cassel's decision an easy one.

"Turnipseed is going to start Friday," he said.

Goaltending wasn't the only thing to go against the Americans' against Korea, though.

Team USA was unable to capitalize on its scoring opportunities. And despite its win, Cassel wasn't happy with his team's performance.

"This was definitely our worst performance of the tournament," he said. "We had a 3-0 lead, and we had opportunities to put them away but we didn't."

The U.S. got off to a strong start by outshooting Korea 30-6 and recording a pair of power play goals. After the first period, however, Korea appeared to steal much of the momentum.

USA went on to outshoot Korea only 22-19 in the remaining two frames as Korea even outscored Team USA in the second and third periods.