London, England

The U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Team advanced to the semifinals of the 2012 Olympic Games with a 9-6 defeat of Italy. Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/Stanford WP) scored three goals and Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan/NYAC) posted 13 saves in the victory. Team USA rallied from a 3-1 first quarter deficit, with a 5-0 run, grabbing a lead they would never relinquish. The win sets up a semifinal match with Australia on Tuesday with game time and TV coverage to be announced.

The match started off in favor of Italy as they drew a penalty about fifteen seconds into the game. Tania di Mario converted the score for a 1-0 lead. On their next possession Italy buried a shot from distance and they quickly had a 2-0 lead. Kelly Rulon (San Diego, CA/UCLA/NYAC) broke through for Team USA with a power play score at the 4:04 mark, halving the deficit to 2-1. Italy responded 90 seconds later with a power play goal for a 3-1 advantage. The United States closed the period strong with two straight scores. The first a Seidemann tally on a power play to make it 3-2, and then with just three seconds left, Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) buried another power play and the match was even at 3-3.

Team USA dominated the second period keeping the Italians off the board while capping that 5-0 run with three more scores. Seidemann cashed in a rebound off a missed shot, on a player advantage, for a 4-3 lead. Holding their first lead of the night the Americans added with a Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/Diablo) goal from outside for a 5-3 lead. The scoring concluded when Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford/Olympic Club) found the cage after a bevy of fakes for a 6-3 lead with 3:24 remaining in the half.

In the third, defense was a trademark as only one goal was scored by either side. Italy drew a penalty with 4:08 to go in the period, di Mario converted, and Italy closed to within 6-4. That was the score headed to the fourth where Team USA put the game away. Rulon buried a power play score from in close for a 7-4 lead just a minute into the period. Then a minute after that it was Villa delivering on a power play for an 8-4 lead. Italy scored on a lob shot on their next possession, closing to within 8-5, but it would not slow down the United States. The very next possession saw Seidemann hit from outside, her third of the night, for a 9-5 lead. That was followed by Italian Head Coach Fabio Conti receiving a red card from the officials after tossing a water bottle. Following his ejection from the pool deck neither team would score a goal for the next five minutes. With the match in hand Italy tacked on one final score with just ten seconds to play but the outcome had been decided. The United States came away winners 9-6.

Notes:

Team USA went 6/11 on power plays and did not attempt a penalty while Italy was 1/9 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties. Tania di Mario led the Italians in scoring with three goals. Team USA has met Australia in every Olympic Games to involve women's water polo. The two met in the Gold Medal final of the 2000 Olympic Games, a win by Australia. That was followed by a meeting in the Bronze Medal match of the 2004 Olympic Games, a win by Team USA. Most recently they met in the semifinals of the 2008 Olympic Games, also a win by Team USA.

 

Originally published by USA Water Polo (http://www.teamusa.org)