USA Women Fall To Spain 9-5 In Long Beach

Long Beach, CA - December 19 - The USA Women's National Team lost to Spain at Long Beach City College tonight, 9-5. Emma Lineback scored twice for the United States while Amanda Longan notched ten saves in the cage. Team USA will play Italy tomorrow night at 9pm et/6pm pt. The match can be streamed by clicking here. Tickets for the series in Long Beach are available by clicking here.

Team USA got on the board quickly in the opening quarter. Jordan Raney scored on an assist from Rachel Fattal less than 30 seconds into the game to give the United States an early 1-0 lead. Elena Ruiz, Judith Forca, and Ariadna Ruiz responded for Spain and they led 3-1 after the first period. In the second quarter, Lineback and Bayley Weber scored the first and last goals of the period with two Spanish scores sandwiched in between. Forca and Ruiz found the back of the net and Spain held a 5-3 halftime advantage.

The third quarter began with Lineback converting on a player advantage for the Americans to cut the deficit in half. It would be the only Team USA goal of the quarter while Anna Espar and Ruiz scored to give the Spanish a 7-4 lead after three periods. In the final frame, Forca netted another for Spain before Jewel Roemer converted a penalty shot for the final United States score of the evening. Paula Leiton put the finishing touches on this one for the Spaniards with just over one minute to play as Spain claimed the victory, 9-5.

The United States went 2/8 on power plays and 1/2 on penalties while Spain went 1/2 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties.

Scoring - Stats via 6-8 Sports
USA 5 (1, 2, 1, 1) E. Lineback 2, J. Raney 1, B. Weber 1, J. Roemer 1
ESP 9 (3, 2, 2, 2) E. Ruiz 3, J. Forca 3, A. Espar 1, A. Ruiz 1, P. Leiton 1
Saves - USA - A. Longan 10 - ESP - M. Terre 5, L. Ester 4
6x5 - USA - 2/8 - ESP - 1/2
Penalties - USA - 1/2 - ESP - 1/1