Hungary Comes Back to Beat Canada in Shootout
Hungary came back from a four-goal deficit to defeat Canada in a shootout in the first game of the 5th-8th place semifinal round. Down 7-3 late in the second quarter, Dora Kisteleki scored two straight to close the gap to two, but Canada responded with a man-advantage goal with three minutes remaining in the third to push their lead to 8-5. Agnes Valkai put one past the past the Canadian keeper on the counter before Dora Kisteleki added a transition goal of her own, her fourth of the game, to cut the Canadian lead to one. With 42 seconds left, Rita Dravucz added her only tally of the match to send the game into a shootout. Each team scored its first shot of the shootout, but after Rita Dravucz put in Hungary's second shot, the goalies took over. Orsolaya Kaso blocked Canada's Joel Bekhazi before Rachel Riddell duplicated the feat, blocking Hungary's Patricia Jancso to keep the deficit at one. Dominique Perreault hit the post with Canada's third shot, and after Gabriella Szucs converted Hungary's fourth, Canada's Hanna Yelizarova sent one wide of the cage, clinching the win for the Mighty Magyars.
HUN 11 (D. Kisteleki 4, R. Dravucz 2, A. Valkai 2, G. Szucs 1, O. Takacs 1, B. Bujka 1)
CAN 9 (E. Csikos 5, J. Bekhazi 1, K. Alogbo 1, D. Perreault 1, T. Campbell 1)
Saves
HUN- O. Kaso 10
CAN- R. Riddell 10
"It was the same game as yesterday, but only a four goal difference, so it was easy for my team because we came back from six already."
-Matyas Petrovics, Head Coach, Hungary
"We are a very strong team, we are emotional and we believed the whole time."
-Matyas Petrovics, Head Coach, Hungary
"We played three quarters well and the fourth we sat back on our lead. We just stopped attacking."
-Patrick Oaten, Head Coach, Canada
China Topples the Netherlands in Shootout
China moves on to the 5th place game in the 2010 Women's FINA World League Superfinal with a 13-10 defeat of the Netherlands in the second shootout of the day. A tight game throughout, China took a 9-8 lead with 1:18 remaining in the fourth quarter on a goal by Ao Gao, one of her five of the match, but the Dutch responded to send the game into the day's second shootout with a goal from Mieke Cabout on her squad's final possession. In the shootout, however, the Chinese took over. After each squad converted its first attempt, Jun Yang blocked two straight Dutch shots and Jin He scored her team's fourth attempt to clinch the win for China. China will play Hungary for fifth place tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., while the Netherlands face Canada for 7th place at noon.
CHN 13 (A. Gao 5, F. Teng 2, Ya. Sun 2, D. Song 2, J. He 1, Y. Chen 1)
NED 10 (M. Cabout 3, J. Cabout 2, Y. Smit 1, S. Van Der Sloot 1, N. Stomphorst 1, N. Klein 1, L. Klaassen 1)
Saves
CHN- Yang 12
NED- Van Der Meijden 7
"We did not play well, I do not know why; this game is very difficult and to be winners is beautiful in this sport."
-Juan Jane Giralt, Head Coach, China
"It was not good but not a bad game for my team. To tie 8-8 against China I think is not a bad result."
-Mauro Maugeri, Head Coach, The Netherlands
Australia Outlasts Russia to Earn a Spot in the Final
Australia held on to win against Russia, 8-7, in the first game of the semifinal round behind a balanced scoring attack and strong goalkeeping from Victoria Brown. Rowena Webster scored two consecutive goals early in the third quarter and sparked 5-0 Australian run that put the game out of reach for Russia. Russia cut the lead to 7-5 on a goal by Anna Timofeeva early in the fourth quarter, but Sophie Smith answered back a mere 20 seconds later to ice the victory for Australia. Russia added two more late in the fourth to close the gap to one, but Australia was able to stop Russia in the final possession to hang on for the win. The Aussies took an early lead, going ahead 1-0 on their first possession of the game on an extra-man score by Bronwyn Knox, but Russia fought back and managed a 3-1 lead early in the second quarter.
AUS 8 (B. Knox 2, R. Webster 2, G. Beadsworth 1, S. Smith 1, G. Ralph 1, N. Zagame 1)
RUS 7 (A. Timofeeva 1, N. Rhyzova-Alenicheva 1, E. Tankeeva 1, E. Soboleva 1, E. Ivanova 1, Y. Gaufler 1, E. Pustyinnikova 1)
Saves
AUS- V. Brown 12
RUS- M. Kovtunovskaya 11
"We believe we're one of the best teams in the world and we can come back from any situation."
-Greg McFadden, Head Coach, Australia
"I thought we were the better team, but things didn't go our way the first quarter."
-Greg McFadden, Head Coach, Australia
"Our third quarter was a pretty important quarter and the momentum started to swing our way."
-Greg McFadden, Head Coach, Australia
"If we lost, it is because we were weaker than the other team."
-Alexandr Kabanov, Head Coach, Russia
"Our two-meter defense was a problem. Two goals out of center is unacceptable."
-Alexandr Kabanov, Head Coach, Russia
Team USA Tops Greece, Moves to Final
Brenda Villa scored three goals and Betsey Armstrong recorded 12 saves to lead the United States to a 9-7 victory over Greece, earning it a place in the finals against Australia. Villa sparked a four-goal rally in the second half with a lob shot from the eight meters out that extended the Americans' lead to three. After a man-advantage score by Kelly Rulon, Villa got back into the action when she put one in off the arms of Greek goalie Maria Tsouri. Maggie Steffens added one more early in the fourth period that gave Team USA a commanding 9-3 lead. Greece rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals in the last four minutes of the period, but they ran out of time and the United States held on for a two-goal victory.
Kami Craig dominated the 2-meter area early, but was not able to get onto the board until she scored a man-advantage goal with less than two minutes remaining in the first period. Her goal sparked a 5-1 run that gave the Americans a four goal lead at halftime. Greece rallied to close the gap early in the third quarter with goals on consecutive possessions by Antigoni Roumpesi and Alexandra Asimaki, but they were unable to close the gap any further until late in the fourth quarter.
The United States moves on to face Australia in the final game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, while Greece will face off against Russia for third place at 3:00 p.m.
USA 9 (2,3,2,2) B. Villa 3, E. Figge 1, C. Matthewson 1, M. Steffens 1, K. Rulon 1, A. Dries 1, K. Craig 1.
GRE 7 (1,0,2,4) A. Asimaki 2, I. Psouni 1, A. Avramidou 1, A. Roumpesi 1, T. Manolioudaki 1, V. Mavrelou 1.
Saves
USA- Armstrong 12
GRE- Tsouri 6
"This was a typical game against Greece- slow, low scoring."
-Adam Krikorian, Head Coach, USA
"We played strong defense, and guarded their 2 meter players well, especially Asimaki."
-Adam Krikorian, Head Coach, USA
"We were very tired. We tried in the game to manage this but we didn't play well. The USA is a very good team, very experienced and they have a lot of fresh players. Today we had a problem in offense so we are going to collect our strengths for tomorrow's game."
-Greorgios Morfests, Head Coach, Greece