Larissa, Greece - August 21 - The USA Women's Cadet National Team lost a close one at the FINA U16 World Championship, losing to Japan 11-10 earlier today. Amber Nowaczek scored three goals to lead the offense while Sofia Umeda and Claire Minton added two goals apiece. Team USA returns to action tomorrow against Spain at 12:30pm et/9:30am pt. Watch LIVE by
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Nowaczek and Allison Cohen opened the scoring with two straight goals as Team USA held a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. Japan answered with three straight goals to close the opening quarter with a 3-2 lead. In the second quarter, Minton, Rosalie Hassett, and Umeda scored for the United States but Japan scored four times themselves to go ahead 7-5 headed into halftime.
Umeda and Nowaczek (2) scored the first three goals in the third to take the lead before allowing Japan to tie the score with 1:04 remaining to send this game into the final frame all tied up at 8-8. In the fourth, Minton scored with 5:23 remaining to take the lead before Japan took it back with back-to-back goals. Kirra Pantaleon buried the equalizer for the United States with 2:35 to play in the final period. That is where this game stood for two more minutes until Riko Bando found the back of the cage on a player advantage with 0:36 to give Japan the 11-10 victory.
Team USA scored once on power plays and went 2/2 on penalties while Japan scored three times on power plays and went 0/2 on penalties.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 10 (2, 3, 3, 2) A. Nowaczek 3, S. Umeda 2, C. Minton 2, A. Cohen 1, R. Hassett 1, K. Pantaleon 1
JPN 11 (3, 4, 1, 3) K. Shironoshita 4, S. Fukuda 4, R. Bando 2, R. Morita 1
6x5 - USA - 1 - JPN 3
Penalties - USA - 2/2 - JPN - 0/2
