USA Women’s Water Polo Downs China, 8-5, On Day Two Of FINA World League Super Final

TIANJIN, China, June 15. THE USA Women's National Team made it back to back victories with an 8-5 win over China on day two of the FINA World League Super Final. Two goals from Anne Belden (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC) spurred the offense while Tumua Anae (Newport Beach, CA/USC/SoCal) did the job in net stopping 8 shots. Team USA closes out group play with a match against Greece tomorrow at 1:20am pst.

The teams opened the match even with each side delivering goals. Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, CA/USC/NYAC) scored for the United States and the game was knotted at 1-1 with two minutes to play in the period. The United States went ahead on a score from Elsie Windes (Portland, OR/California/Tulatin Hills) near the end of the quarter and it was 2-1 USA going to the second.

More offense followed from the United States in the second period when Belden got on the board along with Jessica Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) for a 4-1 lead. China was able to stop the bleeding halting the USA offense for the next four minutes before adding a score of their own to make it 4-2 USA at halftime.

In the third period the red, white, and blue started to take command and expanded their lead on a series of goals coming from Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford/Commerce), Heather Petri (Orinda, CA/California/NYAC), Belden, and Lolo Silver (Long Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC). Before long it was an 8-3 advantage for Team USA as played moved to the fourth. By then it was too late for the Chinese to recover, two late goals from the host nation did not factor in the decision and the United States were able to come away winners 8-5.

"We're happy to get a win against one of the best teams in the world. The difference in the game was our defense," said Adam Krikorian, USA Head Coach.

The United States went 1/5 on power plays while China was 3/9. The victory halted a three game losing streak to the Chinese from last week during common training in Tianjin. In other matches Australia defeated Canada 10-8, Russia blew out Spain 14-6, and Greece doubled up Italy 8-4.

Referees: Noel HARROD (AUS), Santiago RODRIGUEZ (ESP)

Quarters: 2-1, 2-1, 4-1, 0-2 – USA 8 – China 5

Extra Man: USA: 1/5. CHN: 3/9

Pens: USA: 0/0. CHN: 0/0

Teams:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Tumuaialii ANAE, Heather PETRI (1), Melissa SEIDEMANN, Brenda VILLA (1), Lauren WENGER (1), Anne BELDEN (2), JESSICA STEFFENS (1), LAUREN SILVER (1), Elsie WINDES (1), Kelly RULON, Annika DRIES, Kameryn CRAIG, Margaret STEFFENS. HEAD COACH: Adam KRIKORIAN.

CHINA: YANG Jun, TENG Fei, (2) LIU Ping, SUN Yujun, HE Jin, SUN Yating (2), SONG Donglun, CHEN Yuan, WANG Yi, MA Huanhuan (1), SUN Huizi, ZHANG Lei, WANG Ying. Head Coach: Juan JANE GIRALT.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x