Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Commerce, CA – May 17 – In their first game back in 453 days, the USA Water Polo Women’s National Team emerged victorious as they took down Canada 13-8 to kick off a three game exhibition series on Monday night at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center. Team USA had a balanced offense that was powered by two goals each from Maddie Musselman, Rachel Fattal, Maggie Steffens, Alys Williams and Jordan Raney. Meanwhile Ashleigh Johnson came up big in the net with 12 saves.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday at Los Alamitos Joint Training Base in Los Alamitos, CA at 2:00 PM PT. The game will be live streamed using Joymo and live stats will be provided by thefosh.net.
It was a quick start for Team USA as Steffens struck first on the power play to open the game followed by another from Musselman to make it 2-0. Canada responded with a goal but the USA Women doubled up Canada as they took a 4-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was tight as the teams exchanged goals with Williams scoring for Team USA to put them up 5-3 at halftime.
The teams then traded goals to start the third before Fattal and Musselman scored to make it 8-4. Canada looked to get back in the game as Kyra Christmas struck on the power play but Makenzie Fischer answered to put Team USA up 9-5 at the end of the third quarter. Jordan Raney fired in a great pass from Jamie Neushul to start the final quarter which was followed by two more goals as the USA women stretched their lead to 12-5. Canada fought back though as they closed the game on a 3-1 run to get within 13-8 but it wasn’t close enough as the USA Women emerged victorious 13-8.
Team USA went 8/11 on power plays and 0/1 on penalties while Canada was 2/4 on the power play and did not attempt a penalty. Hayley McKelvey and Kyra Christmas led Canada with two goals each.
Scoring
USA 13 (4, 1, 4, 4)
CAN 8 (2, 1, 2, 3)
USA: A. Williams 2, M. Musselman 2, M. Steffens 2, R. Fattal 2, J. Raney 2, K. Gilchrist 1, M. Fischer 1, P. Hauschild 1
CAN: H. McKelvey 2, K. Christmas 2, A. Crevier 1, M. Eggens 1, E. Lemay-Lavoie 1, S. Fournier 1
Saves – USA – A. Johnson – 12 – CAN – C. Vulpisi – 4, J. Gaudreault – 1
6-on-5 – USA – 8/11 – CAN – 2/4
Penalties – USA 0/1 – CAN – 0/0
Referees – Danielle Dabbaghian, Marie-Claude Deslieres