Princeton, NJ - December 20 - The USA Women's National Team confirmed their spot in the Holiday Cup championship match with an 11-2 win over Italy on Friday night at the Holiday Cup. Meanwhile, Russia picked up their win at the Holiday Cup, downing Canada 9-7 to vault past the Canadians into the third place match at Holiday Cup on Saturday. That sets the table for the final day of competition with Russia taking on Italy at 10am et for third place and Team USA meeting the Netherlands for the title at 11:30am et. Canada's tournament concludes with a 1-3 record. Live coverage is available of both matches on For The Fans/Eleven Sports and at Facebook.com/USAWP. Live stats of all matches are available at TheFOSH.net. For a complete Holiday Cup schedule and standings,
click here. Watch on Eleven Sports Network (Century Link: 646) ,
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In the win over Italy,
Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC) led the charge on offense with three goals while
Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC) was rock solid in net turning aside 16 shots.
Team USA took an early 2-0 lead on goals from
Kiley Neushul (Isla Vista, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and
Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL).Italy scored not long after and it stayed a one goal game until 3:34 left in the first half.
Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/CdM Aquatics) scored the first of three Team USA goals to snag a 5-1 advantage at halftime. Italy scored on a long range attempt early in the third quarter and then would not find the back of the net again. Musselman,
Jamie Neushul (Isla Vista, CA/Stanford/NYAC) and
Stephania Haralabidis (Athens, Greece/USC/NYAC) capped the period with goals for a 9-2 lead going to the fourth. Steffens added two more in the final eight minutes to put the match away. Johnson closed the book on the match, denying a penalty shot attempt with time winding down in the match.
The United States went 4/7 on power plays and 2/2 on penalties with Italy going 1/7 on power plays and 0/2 on penalty shots.
Scoring
USA 11 (2, 3, 4, 2) M. Steffens 3, M. Musselman 2, R. Fattal 2, J. Nesuhul 2, S. Haralabidis 1, K. Nesuhul 1
ITA 2 (1, 0, 1, 0) C. Marletta 1, E. Queirolo 1
Saves - USA - A. Johnson 16 - ITA - F. Sparano 9
6x5 - USA - 4/7 - ITA 1/7
Penalties - USA - 2/2 - ITA 0/2
