USA Women Rally To Beat Spain; USA Men Fall Short Vs Croatia

USA Men 10 Croatia 13 – Recap

Newport Beach, CA – December 17 – The USA Men’s National Team played their first home game since this past June and came up short against defending Olympic champion Croatia 13-10. Team USA rallied by scoring three straight goals in the fourth period to tie the game at 10-10 but Croatia scored the final three goals of the match to secure the win. Alex Bowen (Santee, CA/Stanford/NYAC) scored four goals to lead the USA offense while Merrill Moses (Palos Verdes, CA/Pepperdine/NYAC) and Drew Holland (Orinda, CA/Stanford/Stanford) split time in net. The two teams will meet againon Sunday at USC at 2pm. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased by clicking here.

Croatia jumped out to a 2-1 lead before Josh Samuels (Villa Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC) found the net late in the period for a 2-2 game after the first period. The teams traded goals in the second period before Croatia started to pull away going up 7-4 with ten seconds left. Bowen scored with just one second left in the period to make it a 7-5 match at intermission.

Croatia led 9-6 after three periods and then Team USA began to chip away. Bowen scored two more goals as Team USA scored four of the next five goals to tie the match at 10-10. Bret Bonanni (Huntington Beach, CA/Stanford/Stanford) scored with 4:40 left to even the match only to see Croatia score three straight to secure the victory.

Team USA went 3/11 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty while Croatia went 2/5 on power plays and 2/3 on penalty shots.

Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 10 (3, 2, 1, 4) A. Bowen 4, A. Obert 1, A. Roelse 1, J. Samuels 1, T. Azevedo 1, B. Bonanni 1, T. Dunstan 1
CRO 13 (3, 4, 2, 4) S. Sukno 3, M. Jokovic 2, L. Loncar 2, A. Petkovic 2, P. Muslim 2, L. Bukic 1, D. Buric 1
Saves – USA – D. Holland 2, M. Moses 0 – CRO – J. Pavic 8
6×5 – USA – 3/11 – CRO – 2/5
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – CRO – 2/3

Newport Beach, CA – December 17 – The USA Women’s National Team scored the final three goals on Thursday night to rally and defeat Spain 10-8 at the Holiday Cup. Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and Rachel Fattal(Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL) each scored twice in the win while Sami Hill (Santa Barbara, CA/UCLA/Santa Barbara) earned the win in net with four saves. Team USA now improves to 2-1 in the competition and will return to play on Fridayevening at 7:30pm pt against Italy. Full match replays and live streaming of upcoming matches along with live stats are available by clicking here.

Friday’s game will feature free admission for all fans as it comes on the heels of the annual “Battle of the Bay” match between Corona del Mar HS and Newport Harbor HS. The BOTB matches will be streamed live on USA Water Polo TV and can be accessed by clicking here.

In the win over Spain, Team USA had a strong start going up 3-1 in the first quarter on an Aria Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) goal with 2:03 left in the period. Spain would score the next two goals to even the game at 3-3 early in the second period. Team USA answered with two straight goals from Steffens for a 5-3 advantage with 3:29to go in the first half.

The United States led 5-4 at halftime and went up 7-6 in the third on a Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/NYAC) goal with 3:49 to play in the period. Spain scored two straight to go up 8-7 late in the third only to see Fattal connect on a buzzer beater at the end of the third tying the game at 8-8 going to the fourth.

In the fourth period it was all Team USA as they scored two straight goals from Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) and Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) for a 10-8 lead as they went on to win the match.

The United States went 4/10 on power plays and 1-1 on penalty shots while Spain went 1-9 on power plays and 0-1 on penalty shots.

In other action, the Netherlands edged Italy 12-11.

Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 10 (3, 2, 3, 2) M. Steffens 2, R. Fattal 2, K. Clark 1, C. Mathewson 1, K. Gilchrist 1, M. Fischer 1, A. Fischer 1, K. Craig 1
ESP 8 (2, 2, 4, 0) M. Garcia 3, B. Ortiz 2, J. Forca 1, R. Tarrago 1, L. Lopez 1
Saves – USA – S. Hill 4 – ESP – L. Ramos 5
6×5 – USA – 4/10 – ESP – 1/9
Penalties – USA – 1/1 – ESP 0/1

Netherlands 12 Italy 11 – Scoresheet