USA Women's National Team defeat Canada, 10-8
Barcelona, Spain - July 23 - The USA Women's National Team picked up their second straight victory and secured first place in their group with a 10-8 win over Canada earlier today. Lolo Silver (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/Stanford) each scored twice in the victory while Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan/NYAC) posted seven saves in net. Team USA held off a late Canada rally as they built a 9-3 lead midway through the third period only to see Canada close to within two with 5:43 to play. The United States moved to 2-0 and will close out group play on Thursday when they meet Great Britain. Today's match will air on delay on Universal Sports at 6pm et/3pm pt.
The Unites States offense burst out of the gate as they opened up a 4-0 lead to start the match. Silver connected on an outside shot to start, followed two minutes later by Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/SBWPF) getting free inside to redirect a pass past the keeper for a 2-0 advantage. With less than two minutes to play Seidemann scored on power play and then a lob shot to grab a 4-0 lead with 1:21 left. Canada got on the board late in the period, scoring a power play goal with just fou seconds left on the clock.
Trailing 4-1 to start the second period, Canada cut the deficit in half with a power play strike in the first minute, drawing to within 4-2. Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) scored right as a power play expired to take a 5-2 lead. The teams would continue to trade goals with Canada pushing a rebound into the cage on a player advantage and Annika Dries (Laguna Beach, CA/Stanford/SET) scoring in close to build a 6-3 United States lead at half.
The third period saw the Team USA offense pick up where it left off in the first period with three straight goals to open the quarter. Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/Diablo) hit on a power play, Silver got free on a 2-on-1 counter attack for a score, and Jillian Kraus (Santa Ana, CA/UCLA/SOCAL) stuffed home a shot on the nearside for a 9-3 lead with 3:49 to play. Canada then started a run of their own, scoring two straight goals to close out the period down 9-5. The comeback continued for Canada early in the fourth with another goal and the USA lead cut to 9-6. Kiley Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/SBWPF) halted the Canadian rally with a player advantage goal to take a 10-6 lead with 7:03 left.
Canada kept the pressure on as the fourth progressed. First it was a skip shot goal, followed by a penalty shot score, and Canada trailed just 10-8 with5:43. They would get no closer with the United States defense clamping down and not allowing another goal the rest of the way. Team USA had done enough on offense and came away winners 10-8.
The United States went 4/7 on power plays while Canada was 4/6 and 1/1 on penalty shots.
Scoring - Scoresheet
USA 10 (4, 2, 3, 1) L. Silver 2, M. Seidemann 2, K. Craig 1, C. Mathewson 1, A. Dries 1, M. Steffens 1, J. Kraus 1, K. Neushul 1
CAN 8 (1, 2, 2, 3)
Saves - USA - B. Armstrong - 7
6x5 - USA - 4/7 - CAN 4/6
Penalties - USA 0/0 - CAN 1/1
Flash Quotes
"It was kind of a struggle towards the end but we had a good first half so that was good. It was hard, every game is hard at this level. That's a big rival, Canada vs the USA, it's always fun to play against them." - Kiley Neushul , USA Attacker
"It was a good win against a quality opponent and obviously a great start for us that certaintly helped. I do think we could play much better at the end of the game than we did. We got a little too convervative. We expect everytime we play Canada to be a one or two goal game and sure enough that's what it was today." Adam Krikorian , USA Head Coach
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Greg Mescall
Director of Communications
USA Water Polo
714-500-5455
[email protected]
2124 Main Street, Ste. 240
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
