On the heels of a 16-5 win in the series opening match in San Diego, things looked to be trending the same way in the opening moments of today’s match as Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach HS/SET) scored the first goal of the game a little over five minutes into the period. Unlike Thursday night, Russia had an immediate response scoring back to back goals to go in front 2-1 with 2:43 to play. It marked their first lead in the series and only one the afternoon. Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/NYAC) scored the next two for Team USA and Fattal added her first to put the United States in the lead 4-2 after the first quarter.
The scoring continued in the second quarter as Kiley Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/Santa Barbara) scored two of the next four goals for a 7-3 lead going into halftime. After missing two shots in close Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/NYAC) found redemption with a powerful backhand to give the United States an 8-3 lead with 5:53 to play in the quarter. Neushul followed with her third, then came a goal from Bruin alum KK Clark (Menlo Park, CA/UCLA/NYAC) followed by the first of the day from Musselman for an 11-3 lead after three periods.
Musselman kicked off the fourth period with her second goal less than thirty seconds in and then put a cap on the match some five minutes later with her fourth and final tally. In between came two Russian goals that wouldn’t factor in the decision as Team USA pulled away for the 15-7 win.
The United States went 6/9 on power plays and 2/3 on penalty shots while Russia was 1/6 on power plays and 1/1 on penalty shots.
Scoring
USA 15 (4, 3, 4, 4) M. Musselman 4, K. Neushul 3, R. Fattal 2, K. Gilchrist 2, M. Seidemann 1, K. Clark 1, M. Fischer 1, K. Craig 1
RUS 7 (2, 1, 0, 4) N. Glyzina 2, E. Prokofyeva 1, M. Borisova 1, E. Lisunova 1, A. Timofeeva 1, A. Grieva 1
Saves – USA – S. Hill – 10
6×5 – USA – 6/9 – RUS – 1/6
Penalties – USA – 2/3 – RUS – 1/1
