Budapest, Hungary - June 30 - The USA Women's National Team advanced to the Gold Medal final at the FINA World Championships with a 14-6 win over Italy earlier today in Hungary.
Rachel Fattal,
Stephania Haralabidis,
Ryann Neushul,
Kaleigh Gilchrist, and
Jordan Raney all scored two goals in a balanced scoring effort throughout.
Amanda Longan notched 19 saves in net.
Team USA will take on the host Hungary in the Gold Medal final on Saturday at 2pm et/11am pt. The USA Women will look to win their fourth straight FINA World Championship on Saturday and seventh in program history joining titles in 2003, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Live streaming is available via the FINA Facebook page ($PPV) by
clicking here. For those in Europe, live streaming can be accessed by
clicking here. Post game stats will be available by
clicking here.
Team USA took advantage of three mistakes from the Italians in the first quarter as Haralabidis scored a penalty shot after a foul, then Fattal and Gilchrist both converted player advantage opportunities following exclusions to lead 3-0 after one quarter. Longan was on fire in the cage, blanking Italy with five saves in the opening stanza.
Maddie Musselman put another penalty shot home and Neushul found the back of the net on another player advantage to begin the second quarter. Italy put their first two goals on the board late in the quarter on either side of Gilchrist finding the scoring column to put the United States up 6-2 at halftime.
Raney and Fattal scored to begin the third quarter before
Maggie Steffens and
Denise Mammolito joined the party to give Team USA a 10-3 advantage headed to the fourth. In the final frame, the Americans added on to ensure the win. Raney,
Tara Prentice, Neushul, and Haralabidis all scored in the period to outpace three goals from the Italians and win a fourth consecutive quarter to advance to the Gold Medal final, 14-6.
The United States went 5/10 on power plays and 2/2 on penalty shots while Italy went 3/7 on power plays and 0/1 on penalty shots.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 14 (3, 3, 4, 4) R. Fattal 2, S.Haralabidis 2, R. Neushul 2, K. Gilchrist 2, J. Raney 2, M. Musselman 1, T. Prentice 1, M. Steffens 1, D. Mammolito 1
ITA 6 (0, 2, 1, 3) S. Avegno 2, R. Bianconi 2, S. Giustini 1, G. Galardi 1
Saves - USA - A. Longan 19 - ITA - C. Banchelli 2, L. Teani 1
6x5 - USA - 5/10 - ITA - 3/7
Penalties - USA - 2/2 - ITA - 0/1
