KIRISHI, Russia, May 17. THE World Champion U.S. women\u2019s water polo team got edged out, 12-10, by host Russia before nearly 2,000 raucous fans on day two of the Kirishi Cup in Russia. <\/p>\n
Team USA is 1-1 in the tournament after posting a 7-4 win over Australia yesterday (May 16) and will move on to close out pool play with Olympic host Greece tomorrow (May 18). <\/p>\n
A relatively uneventful first quarter gave way to a high-tempo second quarter where the teams seesawed their way through a combined 11-goal display. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really entertaining second quarter,\u201d said U.S. head coach Guy Baker. \u201cEvery time one team scored, the other answered right back.\u201d <\/p>\n
The third quarter saw the U.S. miss all three of its 6-on-5 chances, allowing Russia to forge a 10-7 lead. <\/p>\n
With 2:10 left in the game, Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA\/Stanford\/Commerce WP) buried a 6-on-5 goal to pull the U.S. to within one at 11-10. But late in the game, the U.S. was whistled for an offensive foul, sending Russia out on the counterattack. Russia converted with 43 seconds remaining in regulation to make it a 12-10 contest. The U.S. drew an exclusion on its final possession, but was unable to connect. <\/p>\n
The U.S. also had a hard time finding an answer for Russia\u2019s center Olga Turova, the leading scorer at last year\u2019s World Championships. By the time the water had settled, Turova had tossed in five of Russia\u2019s 12 goals. <\/p>\n
Both teams shot well on the 6-on-5, each going 7-for-11 with the player-up. USA\u2019s Ericka Lorenz (San Diego, CA\/Cal Berkeley), Natalie Golda (La Habra, CA\/UCLA\/New York AC), Gabbie Domanic (Santa Ana, CA\/UCLA) and Ellen Estes (Novato, CA\/Stanford) all had two goals in the loss. <\/p>\n
According to Baker, the fans were just as much a part of the story as the players in the water. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were 2,000 people screaming and cheering\u2026it was a great experience. Their new pool here is amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n
The U.S. will close out group play tomorrow against Greece. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Greek players just finished playing in their league, so I think this will be the first time they\u2019ve all competed together,\u201d said Baker. \u201cThey have a new coach and they\u2019re getting a lot better.\u201d <\/p>\n
-Courtesy USA Water Polo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KIRISHI, Russia, May 17. THE World Champion U.S. women\u2019s water polo team got edged out, 12-10, by host Russia before nearly 2,000 raucous fans on day two of the Kirishi<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n