USA Women’s Water Polo Team wins golden crown against Italy: FINA World League Super Final 2011
After qualifying for the 2011 FINA World League Super Final, USA Women’s Water Polo Team nabbed the golden crown of the championship over their famous rivals Italy by a fringe margin of 9-7 goals in Tianjin, China, on June 19.
After their impressive performance, USA Women’s Water Polo Team has captured their 5th major FINA World Championship and 6th FINA World League Super Final crown.
In the initial half, USA’s Water Polo girls missed their crucial penalty over the Italian team and their opponents capitalised on the chance by striking their first goal over USA’s net. USA’s girls sprang back strongly with the stunning goal of Brenda Villa
and equalled the match by 1-1. Soon after, USA team scored again as Courtney Mathewson scored a lovely goal, ending the first period with 2-1.
On the onset of the second quarter, Italy Women’s Water Polo Team re-grouped with three stunning goals of Alegra LAPI over their competitors and took an impressive 4-3 lead at half time. Shortly after this, they claimed another fantastic goal over their
rivals’ net and took a comprehensive 5-3 lead.
Afterwards, USA’s Water Polo girls did not let lose their strides at all and scored a thrilling goal over the Italian net with the help of their solo striker, Annika Dries. Subsequently, their striker Mathewson scored a stunning goal and levelled the match
at 5-5 goals each. The match went down to the wire and all of a sudden, another US goal scored by Kelly Rulon helped the team out as they took a 6-5 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter started in stunning fashion, as Mathewson of USA scored a mind boggling goal over the Italian net and aided her team to take a 7-5 lead. The Italian team then scored two more goals over their rivals in style to level the match at 7-7.
In the closing stages of the match, Villa claimed her second and last goal for her team and took a 8-7 lead. In the remaining 2 minutes and 16 seconds of the match, Steffens put the ball into the Italian net and helped the team to win the major FINA Super
League Final 2011 by a close margin of 9-7 goals.
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