USA Women’s Water Polo Drills China, 15-1, In Opening Night of FINA World League Semifinals

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., July 13. The United States Women's Water Polo squad rolled through its first match during the opening night of the FINA World League Semifinals in Los Alamitos, Calif., on Wednesday night. Overall, nine field players hit the back of the net in the 15-1 thrashing of China.

"We played pretty good,” USA head coach Guy Baker said. “It's our first official game so far and each day we need to play better. China definitely seems to be getting better from when we lasted played them. We have six new players but we seem to always have good depth, we just need some more experience."

Ericka Lorenz opened the game with a skip shot past Chinese goalkeeper Jun Yang. Patty Cardenas rocketed a goal in at 2:34 to give Team USA an early 4-0 lead. At 7:11 in quarter two, Moriah Van Norman earned a penalty from set, which was converted by Lorenz. China made its way onto the scoreboard at 5:00 in period two with a skip shot by Ao Gao. The score at half stood 8-1. China could not convert in the second half, but Team USA proved its depth with goals by nine field players before the final buzzer sounded.

"It's the first game and we've got to keep it going and work hard from here,” USA player Jessica Steffens said. “Yeah, I was nervous and excited but it was fun. This is the first of many games."

Competition will resume on July 13 at 5:45 p.m. as the teams from down under, Australia and New Zealand, face off to begin day two of competition. Canada will take on the Chinese at 7:15 p.m. and Team USA and Brazil will round out the evening at 8:45 p.m.

In other action, Australia defeated Brazil by 13, 16-3, and Canada ran up the score against New Zealand, 16-9.

BOX SCORES:
USA – 4 4 4 3 – 15
CHN – 0 1 0 0 – 1

INDIVIDUAL SCORING:
USA – H. Petri 1, E. Lorenz 3, B. Hayes 2, N. Golda 1, P. Cardenas 1, E.
Figge 2, E. Windes 2, M. Van Norman 2, K. Craig 1
CHN – A. Gao 1

GOAL SAVES:
USA – E. Armstrong 7
CHN – J. Yang 12

PLAYER ADVANTAGE:
USA – 2 of 5, 1 of 1 (penalty)
CHN – 1 of 5

ATTENDANCE: 250
DELEGATE: Gianni Lonzi, Bill Frady
REFEREES: Cabral, Mejia

CAN – 5 3 3 5 – 16
NZL – 2 2 3 2 – 9

INDIVIDUAL SCORING:
CAN – K. Alogbo 3, S. Lize 1, S. Gardiner 1, J. Bekhazi 1, W, Genoway 1, A.
Braden 2, C. Robinson 2, V. Dionne 2, M. Radu 3
NZL – F. Snell 1, R. McGuiness 1, A. Sieprath 1, K. Mason 2, K. Hudson 4

GOAL SAVES:
CAN – R. Riddell 11
NZL – C. Harache 6, N. Bason 2

PLAYER ADVANTAGE:
CAN – 7 of 9
NZL – 2 of 12

ATTENDANCE: 150
DELEGATE: Gianni Lonzi, Bill Frady
REFEREES: Hardy, Rotsart

AUS – 4 6 4 2 – 16
BRA – 1 1 1 0 – 3

INDIVIDUAL SCORING:
AUS – G. Beadsworth 1, S. Smith 2, R. Rippon 1, S. Fraser 1, F. Hammond 2,
Knox 1, K. Gynther 3, M. Santoromito 1, N. Dyson 2, M. Rippon 2
BRA – A. Vasconcelos 1, F. Fernandes 1, M. Canetti 1

GOAL SAVES:
AUS – A. McCormack 2, V. Brown 6
BRA – T. Oliveira 3

PLAYER ADVANTAGE:
AUS – 5 of 10, 1 of 1 (penalty)
BRA – 1 of 9

ATTENDANCE: 150
DELEGATE: Gianni Lonzi, Bill Frady
REFEREES: Wang, Deslieres

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