Kazan, Russia – August 1 – The USA Women’s Senior National Team cruised into the quarterfinals of the FINA World Championships with a 12-7 win over Hungary.
Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL) scored four goals to lead the offense while Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/Miami Riptides) recorded four saves in net in the victory. Team USA allowed just three goals through three periods controlling the match throughout.
They now move on to meet Spain in the quarterfinal round at 5:30pm local time/7:30am pt on Monday. The match will stream live on UniversalSports.com and air on Universal Sports at 6pm et/3pm pt. For more information on live streaming, click here.
Team USA took it to Hungary from the start as Fattal opened the scoring a little over a minute into the match for a 1-0 lead. A minute later Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) connected for the first of her three goals on the night for a 2-0 lead. With2:39 to play in the period Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/Diablo) got in on the action scoring her first goal of the night for a 3-0 lead. Hungary would add on the final goal of the period but the tone for the match had been set with Team USA ahead 3-1.
The second quarter was eerily similar to the first but instead of one goal to open the period, Fattal scored two. On cue Mathewson and Steffens followed with goals for a 7-1 advantage with 2:32 to go in the first half. Hungary’s Rita Keszthelyi found the back of the net late in the period but the United States still remained in control at 7-2 at halftime.
In the third the high scoring trio reversed their order of goals but the results were the same. This time it was Mathewson, then Steffens, and then Fattal on the way to a 10-2 lead. Hungary scored with 1:55 to play but Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/NYAC) answered with a goal of her own for an 11-3 match going to the fourth.
Hungary’s offense started to get in gear in the final period as they ran off four straight goals in the final eight minutes to close to within 11-7 with 1:07 to play in the match. Their rally had come too little too late. On the next possession for Team USA, Ashley Grossman (Santa Monica, CA/Stanford/LAWPC) capped the match with a score as Team USA went on to win 12-7.
The United States went 4/7 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty while Hungary was 3/6 on power plays and 1/1 on penalty shots.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 12 (3, 4, 4, 1) R. Fattal 4, M. Steffens 3, C. Mathewson 3, M. Seidemann 1, A. Grossman 1
HUN 7 (1, 1, 1, 4) R. Keszthelyi 3, D. Czigany 2, D. Antal 1, K. Menczinger 1
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 4 – HUN – E. Gangl 3, F. Bolonyai 2
6×5 – USA – 4/7 – HUN – 3/6
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – HUN – 1/1
Swimming news courtesy of USA Water Polo.
