Athens, Greece - June 18 - The USA Women's National Team will have the opportunity to defend their crown at the FINA World League Super Final following a 17-8 win over Russia earlier today in semi-final play. Maddie Musselman, Makenzie Fischer and Stephania Haralabidis all scored three goals in the win while Ashleigh Johnson recorded 11 saves in net. Team USA will now take on Hungary in the final on Saturday at 1:15pm et/10:15am pt. Follow live stats by clicking here, live streaming will be available for viewers in the United States via FloSports (subscription required). A win tomorrow would give Team USA their seventh straight Super Final title and 14th in program history.
For the first time in the tournament
Team USA didn't score first, as Russia snared the early lead on a Maria
Borisova goal. Maddie Musselman continued her strong starts at the Super Final
leveling the score moments later. Maggie Steffens followed not long after with
the first of her two goals to put Team USA ahead 2-1. Russia responded with a
goal from Ekaterina Prokofyeva for a 2-2 game halfway through the quarter. The
United States took the lead back and then some behind two straight goals from
Fischer and Haralabidis for a 4-2 advantage. Russia drew back within one but
Melissa Seidemann had the final word, connecting with just three seconds left
for a 5-3 lead after one.
That first quarter was as close as
things would get in this one. Team USA pounced in the second quarter blanking
Russia 4-0 to take a 9-3 lead at intermission. Fischer, Musselman, Alys
Williams and and Aria Fischer all found the back of the net to build a six goal
margin. The United States put the match away in the third scoring the first
three goals out of the gate. Again it was Musselman, Williams and Makenize Fischer
cashing in, this time for a 12-3 lead with 3:06 to play in the quarter. Russia
and Team USA would trade goals to end the period, making it 13-4 going to the
fourth.
Russia's offense resurfaced in the
fourth but the damage had been done. Team USA equaled the four goal Russian
output on the way to the 17-8 victory. Russia scored to open the period only to
have the United States respond with goals from Steffens and Rachel Fattal. The
two teams traded goals the rest of the way with Haralabidis closing out the
scoring with less than thirty seconds left to cap the victory.
Team USA went 4/14 on power plays and
4/4 on penalties while Russia went 2/9 on power plays and did not attempt any
penalty shots.
Scoring - Stats
USA 17 (5, 4, 4, 4) M. Musselman 3,
S. Haralabidis 3, M. Fischer 3, A. Williams 2, A. Fischer 2, M. Steffens 2, M.
Seidemann 1, R. Fattal 1
RUS 8 (3, 0, 1, 4) M. Bersneva 1, E.
Prokofyeva 1, E. Karimova 1, M. Borisova 1, A. Simanovich 1, A. Timofeeva 1, E.
Ivanova 1, N. Glyzina 1
Saves - USA - A. Johnson 11 - RUS -
E. Golovina 8
6x5 - USA - 4/14 - RUS - 2/9
Penalties - USA - 4/4 - RUS - 0/0
Greg Mescall
Director of Communications, USA Water
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