Kami Craig scored the tie-breaking goal with three minutes, three seconds to play as the U.S. women's national water polo team edged by Canada, 8-7, in FINA World League Prelim game Saturday night.
Lolo Silver of Long Beach was among the U.S. team's scorers during the Saturday night match at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos. The score was tied, 6-6, entering the fourth quarter. Emma Wright gave Canada a 7-6 lead with an extra man goal with 6:33 to play.
Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills) tied the score 63 seconds later. The U.S. led 4-2 after the first quarter on goals by Craig, Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach), Maggie Steffens and Annika Dries (Laguna Beach). Monika Eggens and her sister Carmen scored for Canada in the second quarter, tying the score, 4-4, at halftime. Lolo Silver (Long Beach) and Danielle Warde (Newport Beach) scored in the third quarter, while Wright and Monika Eggens scored for Canada.
Warde's goal was her first with the national team. Goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong made 14 saves as the U.S. improved to 3-0 in the tournament that will help determine seeding for the FINA World League Super Finals, which will be played June 1-6 in Beijing. The U.S. will complete tournament play Monday with a noon game against Brazil, which it defeated 10-0 on Saturday.
FINA is the worldwide governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming.
--City News Service
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