By Bruce Wigo
BEIJING, China, August 13. IN Group A action tonight, the U.S. and Italy tied, but the night's big headline from Yingdong Natatorium was the victory of the Chinese women over Russia. It was a game that had players from both teams in tears when it was over. For the Russians, the loss meant that the European and World League Champions had been eliminated from medal contention. For the Chinese, the improbable, incredible and wonderful result brought tears of joy and happiness and a guaranteed slot in the quarterfinals.
Who could have imagined a year ago that the Chinese girls would even be competitive in this tournament? Not only were they competitive, but with the exception of few mental breakdowns that gave up an early lead, they out played the powerful Russians throughout the contest. What was most amazing was that this young team, without a player more than 21 years of age, is how they handled the pressure of coming from two goals down in the final period to grab the 13 – 11 win.
For the second game in the row, the U.S. women got off to a slow start. In the first period, they missed shots, made bad passes and played bad defense in allowing the defending Olympic Champions from Italy to grab a 2 – 0 lead. In all, the Americans lost the ball 11 times due to steals or offensive turnover fouls in the period, but there was no panic in the pool or on the face of coach Guy Baker, who exuded a quiet confidence in his squad that was justified by a 4 – 4 score by halftime.
In the third period, the Americans continued to chase the Italians, catching them again at five. With 1:21 left in the period, Jessica Steffens gave the U.S. its first lead with a bullet buried in the upper left corner of the Italian goal. Now, it was the Italians on the chase.
At 5:16 of the final period, Brenda Villa took a skip shot that barely rolled across the goal line to give the U.S. a 7 -6 lead. Cinzia Ragusa tied it on power play at 4:15. Heather Petrie fired a rocket at shot at 4:07 to give the U.S. an 8 -7 lead and Allison Gregorka scored a minute later to put the U.S. up by two. With three minutes left, Tania di Mario cut the margin to one.
Elisa Casanova wears the #3 cap for Italy, but in tonight's game, she was also wearing a white protective face mask reminiscent of the one worn by the Phantom of the Opera. At 34 years of age, she's the veteran of the Italian team. She's also the biggest player in the women's tournament at 6'1" and 220 lbs. To see her on the deck, you wouldn't think she's a world-class athlete, but this woman is a force to be reckoned with in the water. In the Italian's final possession, Casanova drew an exclusion and then scored the tying goal at :22 from the post.
The U.S. was unable to score on its final possession and both teams seemed satisfied with the draw, leaving them both atop Group A Group with three points followed by China with two. The winner of the group, should both the U.S. and Italy win, will come down to goal difference. To guarantee the bye into the semifinals, the U.S. will need to beat the Russians by more than one goal.
In Group B, former USC star Aniko Pelle scored 2 goals in the final quarter to salvage a tie for Hungary against Australia, 7 – 7. The Netherlands, behind four goals from Mieke Cabout routed Greece, 9 – 6.
