Press Release courtesy of USA Water Polo
Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC) made her return to the goal for Team USA for the first time since the gold medal match of the 2016 Olympic Games and continued her winning ways posting seven saves in a 12-7 win over Netherlands. Johnson played just one half as Team USA broke open a 3-2 lead after the first quarter and extended it to a 7-2 advantage at halftime. Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL) led the way with three goals in a match that was relocated from Santa Barbara High School due to the Thomas Fire. Team USA returns to action on Sunday when they take on the Netherlands at Loyola Marymount University at 2pm pt. Tickets are available by clicking here. Live streaming is available at Facebook.com/USAWP and YouTube.com/USAWP with live stats at TheFOSH.net. To watch a replay of the USA-Netherlands match, click here.
In the second quarter the United States took command of the match scoring four unanswered goals from four different scorers, the last coming from Aria Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Stanford/SET) with 19 seconds to play in the period. The Netherlands opened the third quarter with consecutive goals to cut the deficite to 7-4 but Team USA turned to Fattal for two straight goals for a 9-4 lead with 2:45 left in the period. Fattal assisted on the next goal, a tally from Kiley Neushul(Isla Vista, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and the United States went up 10-4. Sabrina van Der Sloot added a late goal to make it a five goal margin going to the fourth.
The two teams traded goals in the fourth quarter with the last USA goal coming from Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/CDM Aquatics) with 1:42 to play in the match on the way to a 12-7 victory. Team USA went 1/3 on power plays while the Netherlands went 3/8 with neither side attempting a penalty shot.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 12 (3, 4, 3, 2) R. Fattal 3, M. Musselman 2, S. Haralabidis 2, M. Fischer 1, A. Fischer 1, K. Neushul 1, J. Raney 1, M. Seidemann 1
NED 7 (2, 0, 3, 2) M. Megens 2, B. Rogge 2, L. Rozeboom 1, S. van der Sloot 1, B. Mulder 1,
Saves – USA – A. Johnson 7, A. Longan 3 – NED – J. Koenders 4, L. Aarts 3
6×5 – USA – 1/3 – NED 3/8
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – NED – 0/0
