USA Women’s Water Polo Smashes Argentina, 20-0, to Open Pan American Games

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, October 24. THE USA Water Polo Women's National Team got off to a strong start at the 2011 Pan American Games crushing a late arriving Argentina team 20-0 to open the water polo competition at the Scotiabank Aquatics Center. Nine different players found the net led including four goals from center Annika Dries (Laguna Beach, Calif./Stanford/SET) in an outcome that was never in doubt despite the delayed start time. Argentina arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the match and after a brief warmup found themselves trailing 1-0 just 38 seconds into game thanks to a Brenda Villa (Commerce, Calif./Stanford/Olympic Club) score, her first of three on the morning. That ignited a cavalcade of offense that saw Team USA lead 4-0 after the first quarter, 10-0 at halftime, and 13-0 after three quarters.

Other scorers for the United States included Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, Calif./USC/Santa Barbara WPF), Kelly Rulon (San Diego, Calif./UCLA/NYAC), Maggie Steffens (Danville, Calif./Stanford/Diablo), Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, Calif./Stanford/Stanford), Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, Calif./USC/NYAC), and Heather Petri (Orinda, Calif./California/NYAC) all with two goals while Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, Calif./UCLA/NYAC) added a score of her own. Craig also added three drawn five meter penalties.

Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, Mich./Michigan/NYAC) and Tumua Anae (Newport Beach, Calif./USC/SoCal) combined in the cage for 10 stops. The United States went 4/5 on power plays and converted all three penalty shot opportunities while holding Argentina to 0-5 on player advantages. Team USA continues group play on Monday with a 12:15pm match against Puerto Rico.

Notes: Team USA are the defending Gold Medalists at the Pan American Games…The winner of the Pan American Games earns a berth to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

Scoring
USA 20 (4, 6, 3, 7) A. Dries 4, B. Villa 3, H. Petri 2, M. Seidemann 2, L. Wenger 2, M. Steffens 2, K. Rulon 2, K. Craig 2, C. Mathewson 1
ARG 0 (0, 0, 0, 0)

Saves – USA – T. Anae 6, B. Armstrong 4
6×5 – USA – 4/5 – ARG – 0-5
Penalties – USA – 3-3 – ARG – 0-0

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