AUCKLAND – In a rematch of the gold medal final from the 2014 FINA Women’s Intercontinental Tournament this time the result was different. The USA Women’s National Team outlasted Australia 12-10 in a shootout to pick up their first major championship of 2015. Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA\/UCLA\/NYAC) and Makenzie Fischer(Laguna Beach, CA\/Laguna Beach HS\/SET) each scored three goals in regulation, and a goal in the shootout to lead the way on offense. Carlee Kapana (Newport Beach, CA\/Newport Harbor HS\/Newport) earned the win in net with six saves. Defense was a huge factor for the United States holding Australia to 0\/10 on power plays and 0\/1 on penalty shots. The victory marks the first gold medal for the USA Women’s National Team program at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament.<\/p>\n
The match was even throughout regulation with the two teams tied at 3-3 after the first quarter and 5-5 at halftime. Team USA went ahead 8-7 after three quarters only to see each sides defense clamp down in the fourth. Australia scored the only goal of the final eight minutes, tying the match at 8-8 and leading to the shootout. The extra session was dominated by Team USA as they outscored Australia 4-2 in the shootout with goals coming from Mathewson, Fischer, Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA\/USC\/Santa Barbara) and Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA\/USC\/Trojan) to pick up the win.<\/p>\n
Team USA went 4\/7 on power plays and 1\/1 on penalty shots while Australia to 0\/10 on power plays and 0\/1 on penalty shots. “We made some critical stops when we were down early in the game. Our five-on-six defense was superb. Overall it was a great experience for us and left us going home with much to improve on as well,” said USA Head Coach Adam Krikorian.<\/p>\n
Craig and Fischer were named to the All-Tournament Team. Next up for Team USA will be the FINA World League Super Final.<\/p>\n
Scoring<\/strong> The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworl<\/a>d<\/a>.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AUCKLAND – In a rematch of the gold medal final from the 2014 FINA Women’s Intercontinental Tournament this time the result was different. The USA Women’s National Team outlasted Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":58348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[3384,50840,39793],"class_list":["post-133318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water-polo","tag-adam-krikorian","tag-carlee-kapana","tag-courtney-mathewson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
\nUSA 12 (3, 2, 3, 0) (4) C. Mathewson 3 (1), M. Fischer 3 (1), M. Seidemann 1, A. Fischer 1, K. Craig (1), K. Gilchrist (1)
\nAUS 10 (3, 2, 2, 1) (2)
\nSaves – USA – C. Kapana 6
\n6×5 – USA – 4\/7 – AUS – 0\/10
\nPenalties – USA – 1\/1 – AUS 0\/1<\/p>\n