NEWPORT BEACH, California, May 22. THE USA Women's Senior National Team swept the FINA World League Prelims with their second straight win over Canada 11-5 earlier today at Corona del Mar High School. Team USA rallied from a first quarter deficit to pull away and cruise to victory thanks to three goals from Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA\/USC\/Santa Barbara WPF) and 12 saves from CdM grad Tumua Anae (Newport Beach, CA\/USC\/SoCal).<\/p>\n
Much like the Friday night match between the two rivals Canada got off to a strong start and in this match built a 3-0 lead some six minutes into the first period. The United States shrugged off the slow start and began the task of chipping away at the deficit when Craig powered one home from two meters towards the end of the quarter for the first tally of the day for the USA and a 3-1 Canada lead going to the second period.<\/p>\n
From then on it was largely a dominating performance by the red, white, and blue as they erased the deficit, grabbed the lead then kept building. Less than a minute into the quarter Annika Dries (Laguna Beach, CA\/Stanford\/SET) whirled at two meters to deliver a goal and it was 3-2 Canada. Two minutes later the USA caught Canada slow to get back on defense and Elsie Windes (Portland, OR\/California\/HBWPC) ripped the net in transition for a tie match at 3-3. Fast forward to just 30 seconds left in the half and Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA\/Monte Vista HS\/Diablo) skipped a shot to beat the Canadian keeper and give Team USA their first lead of the day at 4-3.<\/p>\n
That would be the advantage to start play in the third when Canada had a golden opportunity to tie the match but Anae stepped up and halted a five meter penalty shot to preserve the one goal lead. Then at the 4:00 mark Maggie Steffens went inside to Craig who again beasted her way through defenders for a score and a 5-3 lead. The Canadians halted their long scoring drought with a power play goal thirty seconds later to close within one at 5-4 but that was short lived.<\/p>\n
The United States, who struggled mightily on power plays Friday evening got things working in the third quarter when Windes scored again on a great pass from Anne Belden (Newport Beach, CA\/UCLA\/NYAC) for a 6-4 lead at the 3:07 mark. Two minutes later it was Belden, now with a chance to shoot; she faked once and then whipped a shot past the keeper for a 7-4 lead which would hold up as play moved to the fourth.<\/p>\n
Canada came out determined to start the fourth hitting on a player advantage goal at the 6:54 mark to close within 7-5. The USA would buckle down from there on the defensive end while continuing to build offensively. Craig came calling again on a power play goals thanks a nice dish from Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA\/Stanford\/Commerce) and it was 8-5 USA. No more than a minute later Lolo Silver (Long Beach, CA\/Stanford\/NYAC) tossed home a lob shot from distant and the USA was cruising at 9-5. With a little over two minutes left in the match the United States drew a power play and Villa delivered a one-timer from outside for a 10-5 lead. With the power play now clicking the United States went back to Silver with under a minute remaining and she ripped the net for an 11-5 advantage. Canada had one last chance to get on the board but another five meter penalty shot try went awry off the post and the United States came away winners at 11-5.<\/p>\n
Team USA ended 4\/13 on power plays, an improvement from 0\/5 on Friday evening while Canada went 4\/9 on power plays and 0\/2 on penalty shots. Next up for Team USA will be the Kirishi Cup in Kirishi, Russia in two weeks time followed by the FINA World League Super Final this June in China.<\/p>\n
Scoring<\/p>\n
USA 11 (1, 3, 3, 4) K. Craig 3, E. Windes 2, L. Silver 2, B. Villa 1, M. Steffens 1, A. Belden 1, A. Dries 1
\nCAN 5 (3, 0, 1,1)<\/p>\n
Saves \u2013 USA \u2013 T. Anae 12<\/p>\n
6×5 \u2013 USA 4\/13 \u2013 CAN 4\/9
\nPenalties \u2013 USA 0\/0 \u2013 CAN 0\/2<\/p>\n
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.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEWPORT BEACH, California, May 22. THE USA Women's Senior National Team swept the FINA World League Prelims with their second straight win over Canada 11-5 earlier today at Corona del<\/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-27176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water-polo","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n