Melissa Seidemann’s (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/NYAC) goal with one second left from beyond five meters secured a 6-5 victory for Team USA over Canada on day four of competition at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament. Seidemann’s goal capped a rally for the United States that saw a 3-1 deficit at halftime. Aria Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) scored two goals to lead the offense while Georgia Phillips (Fresno, CA/Clovis North HS/Rose Bowl WPC) made 12 stops in net to pick up the the win. At 4-0, Team USA meets fellow 4-0 team Australia on Saturday night at 7:10pm pt at UC-Davis. LIVE streaming will be available at Facebook.com/USAWP. To watch a replay of the USA-Canada match click here. For more information on the tournament including live stats, click here.
The two teams were even early on as Canada’s Joelle Bekhazi hit first on a long shot for a 1-0 lead only to see Fischer equal the score some five minutes later. It was 1-1 going into the second quarter when Canada scored two straight to take a two goal advantage into halftime. In the third the United States blanked Canada on goals from Fischer and Paige Hauschild (Santa Barbara, CA/San Marcos HS/Santa Barbara 805) to tie the game at 3-3 going to the fourth.
With the game tied at four late in the fourth quarter, scoring picked up. Jewel Roemer (Isla Vista, CA/Dos Pueblos HS/Santa Barbara 805) delivered on a quick strike for a 5-4 lead. Then with 21 seconds left Canada’s Gurpreet Sohi connected to tie the game at 5-5. That led to Sohi’s former teammate at Stanford delivering the game-winner as Seidemann scored with one second to spare.
Team USA went 2-10 on power plays and 0-1 on penalty shots while Canada was 3-4 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot.
GAME TIME CHANGE: Game times for Sunday have been adjusted. The 5th place game will begin at 9:30am pt, the 3rd place game will begin at 11:00am pt, and the 1st place game will begin at 12:30pm pt. The first place has already been determined and will feature Team USA meeting Australia.
Scoring
USA 6 (1, 0, 2, 3) A. Fischer 2, M. Seidemann 1, P. Hauschild 1, J. Roemer 1, R. Neushul 1
CAN 5 (1, 2, 0, 2) J. Bekhazi 2, G. Sohi 1, E. Lemay 1, S. Fournier 1
Saves – USA – G. Phillips – 12 – CAN – J. Gaudreault – 11
6×5 – USA – 2/10 – CAN – 3/4
Penalties – USA – 0/1 – CAN 0/0
News courtesy of USA Water Polo.
