The Best Have Arrived; 10th Holiday Cup To Start Today
12/8/2009 12:00:00 AM
Newport Beach, CA - December 8 - The visiting nations have arrived, the training has begun, and the 10th Holiday Cup kicks off today at the Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center on the campus of Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California.
All the action gets started at 4:00pm pst when Australia and Italy square off in the event's first match. The rest of the first day will see Russia and Canada compete and the night will be capped off with a rematch of the 2008 Olympic Final featuring the Netherlands and the United States of America. Team USA is coming off a World Championship this summer in Rome and most recently a first place finish at the Canada Cup last week in Montreal.
The rest of the week will continue to showcase the best in women's water polo as this year's Holiday Cup features the top three ranked teams in the world along with six of the top 10. For a full schedule of matches and also the place to access recaps and results click here.
As play moves into the weekend the rivalries continue to heat up with a rematch of the 2000 Olympic Final in Sydney featuring Australia and the United States capping off Saturday's action. Prior to that match Canada and the Netherlands will mix it up along with Italy and Russia. Finally on Sunday, Italy and the Netherlands will square off along with Russia and Australia. Closing out play for the 2009 Holiday Cup will be a rematch from this summer in Rome when the United States and Canada do battle.
All in all it is shaping up to be a tremendous five days of water polo and a fitting cap to what has been a great year of women's water polo action. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the gate each day. The final two days of action will be webcast live through usawaterpolo.org and can be accessed via this link, http://waterpolo.teamusa.org/live.
Women's National Team