Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Amersfoort, Netherlands – February 19 – The USA Women’s National Team played their first game since mid-January tonight when they defeated the Netherlands 11-7 in Amersfoort. The match is part of a week of common training between the two teams as Team USA prepares for the 2020 Olympic Games and the Netherlands prepares for the Olympic Qualification Tournament. Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) scored three goals to lead the USA attack with Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC) recording 10 saves in net to pick up the victory.
Team USA opened with a 4-1 lead after the first quarter. The Netherlands rallied in the second, outscoring Team USA 3-2 to make it a 6-4 match at halftime. The offenses were hot in the third quarter combining for seven goals as Team USA took a 10-7 lead into the fourth quarter. The United States defense took over in the fourth as they held the Dutch scoreless on the way to the four goal victory. Jamie Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/CdM Aquatics) scored two goals each to add to a balanced attack for Team USA on offense. Team USA went 3/6 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while the Netherlands went 3/12 on power plays with no penalties attempted.
Scoring
USA 11 (4, 2, 4, 1) M. Steffens 3, M. Musselman 2, J. Neushul 2, M. Seidemann 1, S. Haralabidis 1, A. Fischer 1, A. Williams 1
NED 7 (1, 3, 3, 0) M. Keuning 2, M. Megens 1, S. van der Sloot 1, I. Wolves 1, I. Koolhaas 1, K. Joustra 1
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 10
6×5 – USA – 3/6 – NED 3/12
Penalties – USA – 1/1 – NED – 0/0