Maddie Musselman Leads USA Women to 16-5 Victory Over Russia

Photo Courtesy: Jared Gray/USA Water Polo

San Diego, CA – July 21 – A capacity crowd at Cathedral Catholic High School played host to the first match in a three game series between the U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team and Russia. Team USA opened the series in strong fashion with a 16-5 victory. Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/Corona del Mar HS/CdM Aquatics) led all scorers with six goals in the win while Ashleigh Johnson posted eight saves in the win. The two teams meet next on Sunday at UCLA at 2pm pt. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased by clicking here. The match will also be streamed live on Facebook.com/USAWP. The two will close out the series on Wednesday, July 27 at Stanford University. Tickets for the match at Stanford are already sold out.

Team USA got off to a quick start jumping out to a 3-0 lead including two goals from Musselman. Russia broke through with a tally only to see Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) connect with eight seconds left in the period to build a 4-1 advantage.

The second quarter was much like the first with Musselman scoring the first two goals of the quarter for Team USA to go in front 6-2 with 3:48 to play. Mathewson added the next two goals for Team USA taking a 7-3 lead at halftime and making it 8-3 early in the third. Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/NYAC) celebrated her 29th birthday with a goal in front of the cage for a 9-3 advantage. Musselman and Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) followed with goals for an 11-3 lead. The five goal outburst for the United States ended with 35 seconds to go in the period on a lob from Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/NYAC) for a 12-4 lead.

Ahead 14-5 in the fourth quarter the United States turned to Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/NYAC) for two straight goals to seal the 16-5 victory. Team USA went 7/11 on power plays and 1/2 on penalty shots while Russia was 1/7 on power plays and 1/1 on penalty shots.

Scoring
USA 16 (4, 3, 5, 4) M. Musselman 6, C. Mathewson 3, M. Steffens 2, M. Seidemann 2, M. Fischer 1, K. Gilchrist 1, K. Craig 1
RUS 5 (1, 2, 1, 1)
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 8
6×5 – USA – 7/11 – RUS – 1/7
Penalties – USA – 1/2 – RUS – 1/1

USA Water Polo contributed this report.

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