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USA Falls to Netherlands 8-5 Follows With Win Over Italy 12-8 In Day Two Of Holiday Cup
By Greg Mescall // United States Water Polo // December 7, 2007
The Netherlands continued their hot start at the Holiday Cup as they knocked off the United States 8-5 in their second game giving the Dutch wins over the top two ranked teams in the world after yesterday's victory over Australia. USA had opened up a 2-1 lead in the first quarter but that was short lived as the Netherlands came back in the second and tied the score and then went up 4-2. A goal by Heather Petri drew the score to within one at 4-3. In the third the game continued to see saw as as the USA got to within a score but then fell back down by two at 6-4 with play moving to the fourth. In the fourth it was all Netherlands as they ran off two straight goals before an Erika Figge score stopped the momentum. That tally came with just 1:10 remaining and the game had already been decided. Figge led USA with three scores while Jamie Hipp went the whole way in net impounding nin shots.
Individual Scoring
USA
E. Figge 3, H. Petri 1, N. Golda 1
NETHERLANDS
D. De Bruijn 4, M. Cabout 1, I. Van Belkum 1, G. Van den Berg 1, N. Vermeer 1
Goal Saves
USA
J. Hipp 9
NETHERLANDS
I. Van der Meijden 2, M. De Nooy 1
Game # 9 - USA 12 ITALY 8
Team USA got back in the win column with a convincing 12-8 victory over Italy in the final game of day two of the Holiday Cup. USA blitzed the Italians in the first quarter racing out to a 5-1 lead in large part to two goals by Natalie Golda. In the second quarter Italy mounted a rally and drew the game to 7-5 at the half. In the third USA reasserted themselves building a 10-7 lead at the period's conclusion as the fourth goal from Golda along with tallies by Lauren Wenger and Erika Figge provided the scoring punch. In the fourth it was more of the same as another Italy rally was snuffed out by scores from Heather Petri and Kami Craig. Betsey Armstrong went the distance in net denying entrance to six shots on goal.
The scoring for USA was well balanced as along with Golda's four, Figge, Craig, and Brittany Hayes also tossed in a pair of tallies. After day two of the tournament the standings currently put the USA in second behind the Netherlands. After that in order it is Italy, Russia, Australia, and Canada
Flash Quotes:
"We are happy with first two games, game against USA was just average for us. We are very tired and we defended very badly especially at the beginning of the game. We made stupid mistakes against a stronger team and when there are stupid errors and a very strong team the result is many goals." Mauro Maugeri, Head Coach - Italy
"I think we wanted to play better, we wanted to come back and player better (after this morning's loss). We never anticipated that kind of start and we know the game was going to closer." Guy Baker, Head Coach - USA
"You know they'll make a run and at half we said we knew it was gonna happen, and now just focus on the third quarter and what we need to do right now." Guy Baker, Head Coach - USA
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