Newport Beach, CA – December 19 – The USA Women’s National Team continued their strong play at the 2015 Holiday Cup earning victories over Spain (10-8) and the Netherlands (7-3). Team USA moves to 4-1 on the week with one match remaining on Sunday against Spain at 10:30am pt. For full tourney results, schedules, stats, and live streaming information, click here.
USA 10 Spain 8 – 12/18/15
The USA Women jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/Santa Barbara) andKK Clark (Menlo Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC). After Aria Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) scored to put the United States ahead 3-1 Spain rallied for two straight to even the game at 3-3 early in the second period.
Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) followed with two straight goals to give the United States a 5-3 lead nearing halftime. Spain answered with a goal to trail 5-4 at halftime and then tied the match early in the third period. The teams traded goals throughout the third period with Spain going ahead late in the period. The last score of the quarter came from Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL) with no time remaining to tie the match at 8-8 going to the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to the United States as they shutout Spain while getting goals from Makenzie Fischer(Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) and Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) to take the match 10-8.
Sami Hill (Santa Barbara, CA/UCLA/Santa Barbara) tallied four saves in the win. Team USA went 4/10 on power plays and 1-1 on penalty shots while Spain was 1-9 on power plays and 0-1 on penalty shots. In other action, Spain defeated the Netherlands 11-8.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 10 (3, 2, 3, 2) M. Steffens 2, R. Fattal 2, K. Clark 1, C. Mathewson 1, K. Gilchrist 1, K. Craig 1, M. Fischer 1, A. Fischer 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
Spain 11 Netherlands 8 – Scoresheet
USA 7 Netherlands 3 12/19/15
After falling to the Netherlands earlier in the week the USA Women rebounded with a convincing 7-3 win over the Dutch behind three goals from Kiley Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/Santa Barbara). Team USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on two goals from Neushul. They kept it up in the second adding three more goals including another from Neushul on the way to leading 5-1 at halftime.
Makenzie Fischer and Craig added goals in the third period to increase the advantage to 7-1. The Netherlands scored twice in the fourth period to cut into the deficit but the match had already been decided as Team USA earned the 7-3 win.
The United States went 2-9 on the power play and did not attempt a penalty shot with the Netherlands going 0-9 on power plays 0-1 on penalty shots. Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC) did the job in net with eight saves.
In other action Spain topped the Italy 13-10.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 7 (2, 3, 2, 0) K. Neushul 3, M. Seidemann 1, C. Mathewson 1, M. Fischer 1, K. Craig 1
NED 3 (0, 1, 0, 2) D. Genee 1, A. Genee 1, S. Van Der Sloot 1
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 8 – NED – D. Willemsz 6, L. Aarts 4
6×5 – USA – 2/9 – NED – 0/9
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – NED – 0/1
Scoring – Spain 13 Italy 10 – Scoresheet
Swimming news courtesy of USA Water Polo.