USA Women Open FINA World Championship Against The Netherlands With 7-7 Draw
7/16/2011 12:00:00 AM
Shanghai, China - July 17 - A see-saw match that witnessed a variety of lead changes and runs throughout ended in a tie as the defending World Champion USA Women's National Team opened the defense of their crown with a draw against the defending Olympic Gold Medalists from the Netherlands 7-7. The United States had the final possession of the match but were unable to get a shot off as time expired. Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, CA/USC/NYAC) led the offensive attack for Team USA with three goals while Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan/NYAC) went the distance in net turning aside seven shots.
The Netherlands got the scoring started in the first quarter with a power play tally to go up 1-0. After an initial save by Armstrong the rebound came right to the Dutch who buried a close shot for the early lead. The United States would answer minutes later at the 2:25 mark when Annika Dries (Laguna Beach, CA/Stanford/SET) wheeled inside and scored with her off-hand for a 1-1 match headed to the second period.
In the second quarter the scoring opened up a bit as Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/Stanford) delivered on a counter attack to put the United States up for the first time at 2-1 with 5:49 remaining in the period. The USA started to cook on offense a minute later as Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) dished to Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/Santa Barbara WPF) who popped up right in front of the cage for an easy putaway and a 3-1 lead. The Netherlands came right back with consecutive goals in the span of a minute and had tied the match at 3-3 with 3:07 to go in the period. That would be the score as the two teams pulled into intermission.
Back and forth it went as play opened in the third quarter with the Netherlands drawing an exclusion and quickly getting a pass to two meters for a score and a 4-3 lead. Team USA came right back twenty seconds later when Wenger scored the first of her three goals on a power play for a 4-4 match. Fast forward three minutes to the 4:27 mark and it was more Wenger again hitting on the player advantage for a 5-4 lead. Again the Dutch would rally scoring consecutive goals the last coming with just :22 remaining in the period to take the lead back at 6-5 going to the fourth.
90 seconds into the fourth quarter and Villa stepped up with a few fakes and a laser to the back of the cage for a tie game at 6-6. Things looked promising minutes later when Wenger capped her hat trick with the match’s prettiest goal, a re-direct right in front of net for a 7-6 advantage with just 2:45 to play. The Netherlands would not go quietly returning the favor with 1:28 left as Yasemin Smith spun her way inside for the tying goal at 7-7. Each team had opportunities as the match wound to a close with both failing to score and the contest would end 7-7.
Team USA ended the game 3-4 on player advantages while the Netherlands went 3-6. Neither team attempted a penalty shot. Next up for the United States will be a match with Hungary on Tuesday evening. The Hungarians throttled Kazakhstan 21-6.
Scoring - Official Scoresheet
USA 7 (1, 2, 2, 2) L. Wenger 3, B. Villa 1, M. Seidemann 1, A. Dries 1, K. Craig 1
NED 7 (1, 2, 3, 1)
6x5 – USA 3-4 – NED – 3-6
Saves – USA – B. Armstrong 7
Flash Quotes:
Adam Krikorian, USA Head Coach
“We gave up two, almost essentially three goals out of the center position which is disappoint. When we took the lead in the fourth, I really thought we were going to kind of pull away from it, and unfortunately we couldn’t close out the game. Holland is very good, this is certainly not a surprising result for us.”
“We just want to get better, we know our next opponent Hungary is extremely talented as well. We just have to learn from our mistakes in this game and learn from them and get ready four next game. We can’t spend too much dwelling on this, it is important that we just learn and move on.”
Lauren Wenger, USA All-Around
“I think it was a great first game. We knew coming into this tournament they would be our first game, it was going to be a very difficult game, they are a great team. It was a good battle and a good building block for the rest of the tournament.”
Women's National Team