USA Women Win Gold Medal At FINA Water Polo World League Super Final

LA JOLLA, California, July 4. THE USA Women's Senior National Team outlasted Australia 12-11 in a shootout to claim the Gold Medal at the 2010 FINA World League Super Final. The victory is the team's fifth gold medal in the seven year history of the event. Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Diablo) final penalty shot score on the last try for the United States claimed victory. Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/NYAC) delivered a key stop to the Aussies prior to Steffens winning shot to set up the medal winning moment.

Steffens, a rising high school senior and the youngest player on the American roster, put the Australians away for good when she put one past Victoria Brown with the score level at 4-4 in the shootout round, after Betsey Armstrong blocked Jemma Dessauvagie, the fourth shooter for Australia. Each team converted the first three attempts in the shootout round.

With the United States holding a slim 5-4 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Australian Bronwen Knox scored a man-advantage opportunity to level the score at 5. After Heather Petri (Orinda, CA/NYAC) added a man-advantage score of her own to hand the lead back over to the Americans, Glencora Ralph put one past Armstrong on the 6-on-5 to level the score once again. With only two minutes remaining, Sophie Smith sent a laser into the goal past Armstrong to give the Aussies their first lead of the game. The Americans, however, leveled the score on the next possession when Tanya Gandy (San Diego, CA/SD Shores) sent a shot directly over the head of Australian keeper Victoria Brown and into the back of the net, sending the game into a shootout, the second between these two teams in this year's Super Final.

Team USA got off to a good start with an early score by Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/Santa Barbara WPF) on the man-advantage. After Australia leveled on the next possession, the Americans scored two straight- an outside shot by Lauren Silver (Long Beach, CA/NYAC) , and a penalty shot converted by Kelly Rulon (Point Loma, CA/NYAC) to open up a 3-1 lead early in the second quarter. After Bronwen Knox skipped one past Armstrong to cut the Australian deficit to one, Elsie Windes (Portland, OR/Tulatin Hills WP) took advantage of the Australian's zone defense to regain a two goal advantage for Team USA at halftime. Knox put in her second tally of the game from center early in the third period, but Lauren Silver shot a laser off the bar and into the back of the net to make the score 5-3. Glencora Ralph would add one more in the third to cut the American lead to one heading into the fourth quarter.

Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Commerce) was named the tournaments Most Valuable Player while Armstrong was tabbed the top goalkeeper. Craig was named to the all-tournament team as the center forward.

Greece took home the Bronze Medal with a shootout victory over Russia 8-7 while China claimed fifth place with a win over Hungary and the Netherlands rounded things out claiming seventh place with a win over Canada.

USA (2,2,1,2,5) L. Silver 3, K. Rulon 2, H. Petri 1, L. Wenger 1, T. Gandy 1, M. Steffens 1, E. Windes 1, K. Craig 1, M. Seidemann 1.
AUS (1,1,2,3,4) B. Knox 4, G. Ralph 2, G. Beadsworth 2, S. Smith 1, A. Brightwell 1, R. Webster 1.
Saves
USA- Armstrong 9
AUS- Brown 11

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.

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