FINA Women’s World League Super Final – Championship Day Jackie Frank Posts Two Saves in Penalty Shootout to Get World Champs Gold over Hungary

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 28. TENSE. Start to finish. But the finish was the finest hour for the U.S. Olympic women's water polo team according to the press notes from USA Water Polo.

U.S. goalie Jackie Frank (Long Beach, CA/Stanford) came up with two phenomenal stops during the deciding penalty shootout of an eventual 12-10 win over Hungary in the gold-medal game of the FINA Women's Water Polo World League Super Final.

In front of a crowd of 3,108 at the Charter All-Digital Aquatic Centre in Long Beach, Calif., Team USA and Hungary never got more than one goal ahead of each other as they battled through 36 minutes of play. Still tied 8-8 at the end of regulation, the gold-medal decision came down to a penalty shootout — the second of the day.

Italy had claimed the bronze with a 15-14 win over Russia the game before, but the final shootout of the night was equally dramatic.

Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford/Commerce) got things started by slamming home the first penalty shot of the night. Frank then stopped Hungary's first shooter, Agnes Valkai, only to have Hungarian goalie Ildiko Sos get a hand on Amber Stachowski's shot after Ericka Lorenz (San Diego, CA/UC Berkeley) had rocketed in her shot for Team USA.

Frank got even bigger in the cage next, blasting away as strike from Hungary's top scorer, Mercedes Stieber, to help the USA to a 10-9 edge, setting up Robin Beauregard (Huntington Beach, CA/UCLA/New York AC) and Natalie Golda (Fullerton, CA/UCLA/New York AC) for the last two U.S. scores to lock down the win with the 12-10 decision.

The gold-medal finish marked the sixth consecutive international tournament championship for the U.S. women since winning the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

"It was awesome," Villa said. "It's our last game on American soil before Athens. We don't want to start rough in Athens. We're going to be playing a lot of European teams, so it was good to play Hungary in the final. I've never been in a shootout. It's the utmost pressure situation."

All four teams in the medal rounds entered the final day with a 3-1 record, after both Saturday's semifinals saw upsets of the two previously undefeated top seeds from group play. Italy lost 10-9 to the USA to enter the bronze-medal game with Russia, which suffered an 8-7 semifinal loss to Hungary. The tournament was a telling Olympic preview, hosting all eight teams bound for Athens in August.

The last time the United States and Hungary clashed twice in one week was back in December 2002 at the FINA World Cup. Things didn't work out very well for Team USA that year, as it got stuck with a 5-5 tie and then an 8-7 loss in the gold-medal game. A year later, the pair met in the fifth-place game of the 2003 Thetis Cup in Greece — Team USA's only finish out of the medal rounds in international competition since 1999. That game ended in a 7-4 U.S. victory, and yet another year passed until Team USA and Hungary would face off again.

Rewind to last week at Stanford University… The U.S. women and the Hungarians worked through a tough match, highlighted by Agnes Primasz's four-goal outburst that Team USA was able to absorb and respond with a balanced attack to post an 8-6 win. Which brings us to Sunday night's gold-medal game in Long
Beach:

Team USA answered an early Hungarian goal with a 6-on-5 strike from Villa and a counterattack goal from Kelly Rulon (San Diego, CA/UCLA/San Diego Shores), but a Hungarian penalty shot leveled the game back at 2-2. A U.S. turnover got the ball in the hands of Anniko Pelle as time drained, and Pelle went one-on-one with Jackie Frank (Long Beach, CA/Stanford), slipping in the go-ahead score.

In the second quarter, Margie Dingeldein (Merced, CA/Stanford) threw up a huge field block that put Team USA on the counterattack. Villa took the ball down and passed off the foul to Amber Stachowski (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/UCLA) at two meters. Stachowski got the shot off under pressure, and the game was tied at 3-3. Agnes Primasz, who gave Team USA trouble last week, scored from the perimeter on another Hungarian 6-on-5, pulling Hungary back up 4-3. Dingeldein next hit hard for the USA's offense, taking a crossing pass from Rulon and drilling it home for a 4-4 score 1:24 from halftime.

Team USA defense put a clamp on Hungary's next possession to go on the attack and earn another power play. Golda sent a searing shot from the top on that opportunity, and Team USA had its first lead of the game at 5-4 with 21 seconds left in the half. Frank swatted a solid Hungarian shot just before the buzzer to retain the edge for the USA.

Hungary's top scorer in the tournament, Stieber, leveled things early in the third with a 6-on-5 score from the top, and then Hungary took the lead again with another power play score from Rita Dravucz at 5:55. On Hungary's third 6-on-5 chance of the quarter, Stachowski got a hand on the shot for a field block out of bounds.

Team USA got the ball back and went down-pool to earn a power play of its own. Ericka Lorenz (San Diego, CA/UC Berkeley) got up and put away the opportunity with a sizzling crosscage score from the top right for another tie score, 6-6 with 2:22 left in the period. Heather Moody (Green River, WY/San Diego State/New York AC) earned an exclusion in the final minute, and Villa laced in the score from the left side to grab the 7-6 lead. Again, Hungary clawed back, and Pelle went bar-in for yet another tie entering the final period.

Frank got excluded trying to stop a deep pass to a wide-open Hungarian player, leaving Dingeldein to hustle back and try to cover the cage. Pelle took a shot at a lob over Dingeldein, but it went off the bar. Hungary didn't miss on its next possession, however. Primasz blazed a crosscage score to go up 8-7, and then Dingeldein sailed a perfect lob to the back of the cage to bring up an 8-8 tie with 5:34 remaining. Frank came up with a huge save on a dangerous Pelle counterattack with 2:52 on the clock, but the USA was unable to make the most of the offensive opportunity.

With one minute ticking away, Team USA was on the attack, and Thalia Munro's (Santa Barbara, CA/UCLA) shot was tipped high by Ildiko Sos, giving the U.S. women another series with 38.5 seconds left. The USA got up with a 6-on-5 chance, but Golda and Villa both went off the crossbar, bringing up the second deciding penalty shootout of the day — Frank's cue to take control.

For more information on the FINA World League Super Final games and the rest of the Toyota Aquatics Grand Prix in Long Beach, visit www.longbeach2004.com.

For more information on Team USA, go to www.usawaterpolo.com.

Box Score

Team USA 2 3 2 1 — 4 — 12
Hungary 3 1 3 1 — 2 — 10

Individual Scoring
Team USA: Villa 3, Dingeldein 2, Golda 2, Lorenz 2, Rulon 1, Stachowski 1,
Beauregard 1
Hungary: Dravucz 4, Primasz 3, Pelle 2, Stieber 1,

Goal Saves
Team USA: Frank 10
Hungary: Sos 10

Player Advantage Scoring
Team USA: 5 for 10*
Hungary: 4 for 11, 1 for 1 penalty shots*
* — Team USA was 4 for 5 in penalty shootout; Hungary was 2 for 4 in penalty shootout.

Bronze Medal
Italy 15, Russia 14 (shootout): Both winners of their respective group, the No. 2 and No. 3 world powers were relegated to the bronze-medal game after losses in Saturday's semifinals. No. 2 Italy beat No. 3 Russia 8-6 last week at the Holiday Cup in La Jolla, Calif.

Their third-place battle was equally tight, though this time Italy opened with the early advantage, leaving Russia to try and come back. Seven regulation goals from Russia's Maria Yaina did the trick. By buzzer's end, the score was locked at 10-10, bringing up a penalty shootout.

Italian goalie Francesca Conti had stuffed one penalty shot attempt during regulation play, and she now faced a whole lineup of Russian shooters. Valentina Vorontsova was the first to make a stop, however. The Russian goalie stuffed Silvia Bosurgi's penalty shot from five meters out to give Russia an 11-0 lead for the final four shooters from each team.

Both teams went bar-out once, and Conti got a hand on Natalia Shepelina's shot to notch the save. Trailing 13-12 for the last of the 10 shooters, Italy's Melania Grego forced the sudden-death shootout with her skip shot to the left side, where Conti stepped up to lock down bronze for Italy. After the first two strikes hit home, Conti faced Anastasia Zubkova with the score 14-14. Conti got to it, and slapped away the shot to bring up Tania DiMario. DiMario's shot was true, and Italy had the match won at 15-14.

Conti hauled a pair of dangerous Russian chances off the goal line to keep Italy on top in the first half, while a 3-for-3 Italian effort on second-quarter power plays helped Italy to a 4-2 lead for the second half. Maria Yaina had four goals for Russia early in the third quarter, tying it twice and turning up the pressure for the second half.

Conti and her defense put up a strong stand in the first quarter, which finally helped feed into the Italian counterattack. With 1:27 left in the period, DiMario drilled a nearside score for Italy to take a 1-0 lead. Russia almost leveled it on the 6-on-5, but the ball was torn off the goal line just in time by Conti, keeping Italy's lead intact for the second quarter. On its first power play of the quarter, Italy struck quickly. Bosurgi bounced in the score to lift Italy ahead 2-0 at 7:20.

Russia was able to break out of its scoring slump a minute later, getting a perimeter bullet from Yaina to make it 2-1. Italy made good on its next power play with some sharp passing and a tip-in from two meters by Alexandra Araujo off a pass from Noemi Toth at the 4:42 mark. Conti dragged another Russian shot off the goal line to get Italy back on the attack

Olga Turova earned Russia a power play later in the second, and Elena Smurova lofted a pass to Yaina at set for a one-touch score that brought the game back to a one-goal margin at 3-2 with 1:49 left in the half. Italy stayed perfect on its 6-on-5 opportunities in the quarter, however, converting its third of the period with a skipper from Martina Miceli to make it 4-2 Italy.

Barely 20 seconds into the half, Ekaterina Salimova blazed in a score for Russia, cutting the lead back down to one. A minute later, Yaina caused more trouble for Italy, nailing a quick 6-on-5 strike to tie the game. But Italy earned itself another penalty shot on its next possession, and DiMario put it away to give Italy back the lead at 5-4.

Again, Yaina came through. She sailed a crosscage lob to the right corner with four minutes left in the third, and the score was locked at 5-5. In the final minute of play, however, Italy's power play prowess kicked in again. DiMarion found Manuela Zanchi in front of the cage, and she finished off the pass for the 6-5 lead. Russia was poised to tie it up with a penalty shot from Olga Turova, but her right-side attempt was stuffed by Conti, holding Italy at a 6-5 advantage for the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter got even crazier on the scoring front. Yaina notched her fifth and sixth goals — one on a penalty shot midway through the fourth — only to have Italy keep pace to hold a 9-8 lead with 2:54 left to play. Araujo pumped that lead to 10-8 with 1:48 remaining, but Yaina had more firepower left in her. Goal No. 7 came on a Russian power play at 1:16, making it 10-9. A wide Italian shot got the ball backing Russian hands in the final minute.

On the counterattack, Salimova's shot was saved by Conti, but ended up in Ekaterina Vasileva's hands in fron tof the goal. She shoved in the tying score with 33 seconds left, and Italy could not get a shot off before the buzzer pulled the game into a shootout.

Box Score

Russia 0 2 3 5 — 4 — 14
Italy 1 3 2 4 — 5 — 15

Individual Scoring
Russia: Yaina 9, Vasileva 2, Salimova 1, Turova 1, Zubkova 1
Italy: DiMario 5, Araujo 2, Miceli 2, Bosurgi 2, Zanchi 1, Musumeci 1, Grego
1, Allucci 1

Goal Saves
Russia: Vorontsova 6
Italy: Conti 12

Player Advantage Scoring
Russia: 5 for 6, 0 for 1 penalty shots*
Italy: 7 for 7, 1 for 1 penalty shots*
* Russia went 4 for 7 in penalty shootout; Italy went 5 for 7 in penalty shootout

Fifth Place
Canada 6, Greece 5: The fifth-place game swayed from heated offensive battles to scoring silence, as Canada was able to take a three-goal lead in the third quarter and then outlast Greece on the way to the victory and fifth-place finish.

Things started out fast and furious as the Olympic hosts and No. 4 Canada each scored on their first two possessions of the game. Canada took full advantage of Greece's first offensive miss on the 6-on-5 and took its first lead when Susan Gardiner roared in a backhand score from two meters. The second half of the opening period settled down some. Greece couldn't work its way into the scoring column again, while Canada was able to produce one more score, this time off the counterattack from Melissa Collins with 2:24 left.

The scoring pace slowed to a standstill in the second quarter. Greece earned three power plays, but was unable to convert any of them, thanks in large part to Canadian goalie Rachel Riddell. Canada also stalled out, again often at the hands of Greek goalie Georgia Ellinaki. Cora Campbell threw out a mean field block on an early Greek power play strike in the early goings of the second half, and then Canada earned a penalty shot on its next trip down the pool.

Valerie Dionne bounced in the score, and Canada got back on the board for a 5-2 lead. The score seemed to wake up the Greek offense, as Roumpesi tallied her third goal of the game with a counterattack score at 4:58 in the third. Gardiner again took the job of padding Canada's lead into her own hands and dealt out her second goal of the game for a 6-3 lead. Again, Greece answered the call. Stavroula Kozompoli punched back-to-back scores for Greece to pull within one at 6-5 for the final quarter.

That quarter — like the second — settled into a defensive battle and missed chances. Gardiner field blocked a Greek shot to put the ball in Canada's possession for the last 20 seconds of the game. Greece pressed hard to try for a steal, but Canada held on for the win and the fifth-place finish.

Box Score

Greece 2 0 3 0 — 5
Canada 4 0 2 X — 6

Individual Scoring
Greece: Roumpesi 3, Kozompoli 2
Canada: Gardiner 2, Begin 1, Arpin 1, Collins 1, Dionne 1

Goal Saves
Greece: Ellinaki 7
Canada: Riddell 7

Player Advantage Scoring
Greece: 1 for 8, 1 for 1 penalty shots
Canada: 1 for 2, 1 for 1 penalty shots

Seventh Place
Australia 9, Kazakhstan 2: Australia's Nikita Cuffe dragged along a Kazakh defender with inside water and squirted in Australia's first score to get things going for the Aussies, who desperately needed a good win after four tough losses. Australian goalie Emma Knox and her defense stiffened to render Kazakhstan scoreless in the second half, while the Aussie offense struck hard with five goals from five different scorers in the half to secure the seventh-place finish.

Kazakhstan's Assel Jakayeva scored from two meters on the power play at 1:56 in the first quarter, and then Australia earned a penalty shot that Joanne Fox put away bar-in to keep the Aussies' lead. Kazakhstan's next 6-on-5 failed, and Australia took it back down for a nearside skip shot from Belinda Brooks with 6.6 seconds to go in the quarter.

Australia was unable to finish off a couple second-quarter counterattack opportunities until Melissa Rippon drilled in a skipper to extend Australia's scoring run to three goals for a 4-1 lead at 4:47. Kazakhstan converted another 6-on-5 at the hands of Anna Zubkova with a minute left in the half. Australia had one more counterattack chance, but the shot was slapped wide at the buzzer by Rytova, keeping the score at 4-2 Australia for the second half.

Australia was awarded its first 6-on-5 of the game during the second half, and Kelly Heuchan promptly notched the score for a 5-2 lead at 8:34. Heuchan later earned a penalty shot for Australia, and Naomi Castle slotted the score from five meters to boost Australia up 6-2 with 4:16 left in the third. Later, on another Aussie counter, Fox earned another penalty shot. This one was put into Rippon's hands, and she nailed the shot for a 7-2 lead at 1:33.

After no scoring on either end in the fourth, Australia converted on a power play with three minutes left, tallying its seventh scorer of the game with Elise Norwood's quick score. That also gave Norwood her 10th goal of the tournament, making her Australia's top scorer. Australia wasn't done scoring, however. Nikita Cuffe laced in one more for the Aussies at 1:20, keeping the victory secure.

Box Score

Australia 3 1 3 2 — 9
Kazakhstan 1 1 0 0 — 2

Individual Scoring
Australia: M. Rippon 2, Cuffe 2, Brooks 1, Fox 1, Heuchan 1, Castle 1, Norwood 1
Kazakhstan: Jakayeva 1, Zubkova 1

Goal Saves
Australia: Knox 9
Kazakhstan: Rytova 12, Zharkova 3

Player Advantage Scoring
Australia: 2 for 3, 3 for 3 penalty shots
Kazakhstan: 2 for 5

Quick Strikes

Cashing In
The FINA World League Super Final serves as a great tune-up for teams heading to Athens this summer. But there’s an added perk that adds to the intensity of the tournament: good, old-fashioned American currency. A total of $126,000 will be up for grabs in this inaugural women’s Super Final. Here’s a breakdown of the cash dispersal from 1-8:

1st place $40,000
2nd place $30,000
3rd place $20,000
4th place $15,000
5th place $10,000
6th place $5,000
7th place $3,000
8th place $3,000
Total $126,000

Home Away from Home
The FINA World League Super Final brings a number of overseas Olympians within easy reach of their own collegiate waters. Canadian goalie Rachel Riddell and field player Christine Robinson both hail from Loyola Marymount University, though they are taking time off to train with their national teammates as Canada prepares for this summer's trip to Athens. Australia's Kelly Heuchan was a UCLA Bruin alongside a host of current members of Team USA. USC is also well-represented by foreign talent in Anniko Pelle of Hungary and Russia's Sofya Konukh.

FINA Women's World League Super Final Results
Date Time Team Team Result
Wed. June 23 4 p.m. Hungary vs. Italy 4-6
5:30 p.m. Greece vs. Russia 8-11
6:45 p.m. Australia vs. Canada 11-12 (shootout)
8:45 p.m. USA vs. Kazakhstan 10-4
Thurs. June 24 4 p.m. Hungary vs. Canada 12-7
5:30 p.m. Greece vs. Kazakhstan 11-2
7 p.m. Australia vs. Italy 8-11
8:30 p.m. USA vs. Russia 5-10
Fri. June 25 4 p.m. Russia vs. Kazakhstan 10-6
5:30 p.m. Italy vs. Canada 13-8
7 p.m. Australia vs. Hungary 4-5
8:30 p.m. USA vs. Greece 9-7
Sat. June 26 4 p.m. Greece vs. Australia 8-7
5:30 p.m. Canada vs. Kazakhstan 10-5
7 p.m. (Semifinal) Russia vs. Hungary 7-8
8:30 p.m. (Semifinal) Italy vs. USA 9-10
Sun. June 27 4 p.m. (7th place) Australia vs. Kazakhstan 9-2
5:30 p.m. (5th place) Greece vs. Canada 5-6
7 p.m. (3rd place) Russia vs. Italy
8:30 p.m. (Championship) Hungary vs. USA

Final Standings
Place Team
Gold USA
Silver Hungary
Bronze Italy
4th Russia
5th Canada
6th Greece
7th Australia
8th Kazakhstan

Points Table — Final Group Standings
Group A Standings Games Win Loss Tie G + G – G.D. Pts.
Russia 3 3 0 0 31 19 +12 9
USA 3 2 1 0 24 21 +3 7
Greece 3 1 2 0 26 22 +4 5
Kazakhstan 3 0 3 0 12 31 -19 3

Group B Standings Games Win Loss Tie G + G – G.D. Pts.
Italy 3 3 0 0 30 20 +10 9
Hungary 3 2 1 0 21 17 +4 6
Canada 3 1 2 0 27 36 -9 4*
Australia 3 0 3 0 23 28 -5 3
* — FINA World League rules assess 2 points for a win via shootout, 3 for a regulation win.

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