LA JOLLA, California, July 6. BRONWEN Knox converted a five meter penalty shot with no time remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to give Australia an 12-11 victory over the U.S. Olympic Team for Women's Water Polo at a jam packed Coggan Aquatic Center in La Jolla, California. The homecoming for center and San Diego native Moriah van Norman was sullied as the Aussies were able to draw the penalty in the waning seconds of the final stanza. The four game series is now split at one game piece after the United State's victory on Friday.<\/p>\n
Van Norman did not disappoint the home crowd as she scored the games first goal less than a minute into the match to give Team USA a lead they would hold for a long time. Lauren Wenger followed up a minute later with a score and it was an early 2-0 advantage for USA. Australia took some momentum back scoring a goal to draw within 2-1 and then halting a five meter penalty try by USA and it was just a one goal game after the first.<\/p>\n
In the second Natalie Golda joined the action scoring a goal at the 5:12 mark, and then added another cashing in on a drawn five meter by van Norman and USA was in front 4-1. The lead kept growing when Elsie Windes took a dish from Brenda Villa and found the cage to make it 5-2. Brittany Hayes tacked on another score and things appeared to be in hand at 6-2. Australia put on a min-run of their own as Jenna Santoromito connected on a goal, and then on a broken play found herself all alone headed to the net and bounced in another score to make it 6-4 USA. Windes lobbed in a goal shortly after that and things were still in Team USA's favor at 7-4 at halftime.<\/p>\n
The aussies strung together two goals to start the second half and they were down just a score at 7-6. Van Norman connected on a man-up scenario, the lead was back to two, but Australia captain Melissa Rippon answered the call with a score and it was 8-7 with play moving to the fourth. In the final frame Knox ripped the net to tie the score at 8-8, but that was short lived as 17 seconds later Villa lobbed on in and USA was in front 9-8. Back and forth they went as the teams traded goals getting to 10-10. Knox would score again on a drawn five meter and Australia grabbed their first lead of the game at 11-10.<\/p>\n
Hayes would come up huge for Team USA as quick passing led to a opening on the right side and the southpaw took advantage lighting the proverbial lamp to tie it at 11-11. Team USA's defense then held until the closing seconds and the five meter call which sealed their hopes for a second straight win over Australia. Betsey Armstrong was solid in net putting aside nine saves, while Natalie Golda led in scoring with three goals. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday evening at Coronado High School in Coronado, CA at 7pm.<\/p>\n
Special thanks to USA Water Polo for contributing this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LA JOLLA, California, July 6. BRONWEN Knox converted a five meter penalty shot with no time remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to give Australia an 12-11 victory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water-polo","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n