The USA Women’s Senior National Team opened the FINA Intercontinental Tournament with a 14-5 victory over Japan at the Riverside Aquatics Complex. A balanced scoring attack paced Team USA as they shrugged off a slow start to the match. Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/Trojan), Priscilla Orozco (Commerce, CA/UCLA/Commerce), Jillian Kraus (Santa Ana, CA/UCLA/SOCAL), and Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/SBWPF) all scored two goals in the victory. Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan/NYAC) went the distance in net to record the victory. The USA-Japan match was the final of four games on the day. In earlier action Brazil topped Venezuela 12-2, Canada defeated Kazakhstan 21-7 and Australia edged China 13-10. For complete tournament results, recaps, streaming information and scoresheets, click here.
USA ended the first quarter leading 2-1 with goals by Craig and Orozco. Craig scored the first goal of the game that was later followed by a Japan goal from Shino Magariyama. Orozco gave the US a lead with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.
Japan’s Yumi Nakano scored first in the second quarter tying up the game. The United States answered with goals by Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET), Kraus, and another goal by Orozco.
The United States expanded their lead in the third quarter. Gilchrist scored two goals in the quarter to help out the USA. Other USA goals came from Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/Corona del Mar HS/Cdm Aquatics), and Colleen O’Donnell (Palos Verdes, CA/USC/LAWPC). Japan scored 2 goals in the quarter with another goal by Yumi Nakano and Tsubasa Mori scored her first goal of the game.
The USA started off the fourth quarter strong with 3 unanswered goals scored by Kraus, KK Clark (Menlo Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC), and Craig. Japan’s Erina Kakiichi then scored making it 12-5. Maddie Rosenthal (Miami, FL/USC/Raider) and Marisa Young (Fountain Valley, CA/Cal State Northridge/HBWPC) scored the final goals of the game. USA plays again tomorrow at 7:30 PM PST against Kazakhstan.
Courtesy of USA Water Polo.
