Headed into the medal matches on the final day of competition at the FINA Women’s Water Polo Tournament, the American and Australian teams provided a preview of what is to come on the final day of the series. In a low-pressure match at the University of California-Davis’ Schaal Aquatics Center on May 6, the Americans took the victory 9-7.
The true winner of the tournament will be determined when the teams face each other one more time on the final afternoon (May 7) at 12:30pm. The top four finishers will then move on to the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League Super Final in Shanghai, China June 6-11.
May 6 – USA 9 AUS 7
Davis, CA – For the second straight night the USA Women’s National Team staged a second half rally coupled with some late game heroics. A day after beating Canada on a goal with just one second to play the United States battled back from a 4-1 third quarter deficit to score three goals in the fourth quarter and force a shootout. Ryann Neushul‘s (Goleta, CA/Dos Pueblos HS/Santa Barbara 805) shootout goal in the fourth round capped the win for Team USA 9-7. Five different players scored in regulation for Team USA and Thea Walsh (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) recorded five saves including a stop in the shootout to pick up the win. Team USA advances to the gold medal match on Sunday where they will once again meet Australia, this time at 12:30pm pt. The match will be live streamed at Facebook.com/USAWP. A full replay of the May 6 match, courtesy of USA Water Polo, can be found below:
The game started slowly on offense for both sides with the first score coming at the 3:34 mark on a Bayley Weber (Los Alamitos, CA/Los Alamitos HS/SET) follow for a 1-0 lead. Australian veteran Rowie Webster responded in a major way scoring the next four goals to give the Aussies a 3-1 lead at half and a 4-1 lead in the third. Team USA ran off three straight goals of their own on scores from Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/NYAC), Abbi Hill (Santa Barbara, CA/Dos Pueblos HS/Santa Barbara 805) and Aria Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) for a 4-4 game 5:50 left in regulation.
Australia returned fire with a score to grab a 5-4 lead only to see Paige Hauschild (Santa Barbara, CA/San Marcos HS/Santa Barbara 805) answer with a score with 1:29 to play leading to the extra session. In the shootout Walsh blocked the first Australia putting Team USA in control. The United States wouldn’t miss a shot and after the Aussies hit the post in the fourth round Neushul converted to win the match.
Team USA and Australia both went 1/2 on power plays with neither side attempting a penalty shot in regulation. In other action Japan defeated China 11-6 and Canada downed Kazakhstan 8-3. That set up the final day of action with USA and Australia meeting for gold at12:30pm. In third place Japan and Canada will meet at 11am and Kazakhstan and China will square off for fifth place at 9:30am pt. All matches are streamed LIVE at Facebook.com/USAWP.
Scoring
USA 9 (1, 0, 1, 3) (4) A. Fischer 1. M. Seidemann 1, P. Hauschild 1, B. Weber 1, A. Hill 1
AUS 7 (1, 2, 1, 1) (2) R. Webster 4, E. Armit 1
Saves – USA – T. Walsh 5 – AUS – G. Palm 9
6×5 – USA – 1/2 – AUS – 1/2
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – AUS 0/0
The above press release was provided by Greg Mescall and USA Water Polo. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact newsmaster@
Congratulations