Courtesy: USA Water Polo
STOCKTON, Calif. – The USA Women capped off their four game exhibition series against Greece with a commanding 18-7 victory in front of a loud hometown crowd at the University of the Pacific. Makenzie Fischer poured in five goals to lead the way on offense for Team USA. Ashleigh Johnson and Amanda Longan split time in the cage recording 2 and 4 saves respectively.
A full replay of the match is available by clicking here. That concludes Team USA’s four game exhibition series with Greece. Next up they travel to Gwangju, South Korea for the 2019 FINA World Championships.
Team USA got on the board first through a goal by Makenzie Fischer, but Greece responded with a goal of their own to tie the game 1-1. Team USA then proceeded to score five straight goals to take a 6-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to Team USA as they put six more on the board with two coming from team captain Maggie Steffens as they took a 12-1 halftime lead.
The second half was tighter as Greece and Team USA exchanged goals in the third quarter as Greece managed to outscore Team USA 3-2 to narrow the lead to 14-4 at halftime. The fourth quarter was also tight as Greece put three more on the board, but Team USA scored four goals in the quarter with two coming from Alys Williams as they went on to win 18-7.
Team USA went 4/8 on power plays and 2/2 on penalty shots while Greece went 1/9 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot.
Scoring
USA 18 (6, 6, 2, 4)
GRE 7 (1, 0, 3, 3)
USA: M. Fischer 5, A. Williams 3, M. Steffens 3, K. Neushul 2, A. Fischer 2, R. Fattal 1, J. Neushul 1, K. Gilchrist 1
GRE: N. Eleftheriadou 3, A. Avramidou 2, E. Xenaki 2
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 2, A. Longan 4 – GRE – I. Stamatopoulou 2, M. Kotsioni 5
Penalties – USA 2/2 – GRE 0/0