Rotterdam, Netherlands - April 12 - The U.S. Women's Senior National Team beat China 12-5 earlier today at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup qualifier! Maddie Musselman scored thrice and was named Player of the Game. A replay of the win can be found here. Team USA returns to action tomorrow against Italy at 2:30pm et/11:30am pt. The game can be streamed live on the World Aquatics YouTube channel with live scoring available from World Aquatics by clicking here.
The game had a slow offensive start with neither team finding the net for over three minutes before the United States drew a penalty foul and Jordan Raney converted for the first goal on the day. China evened the score on an extra player goal by Jing Zhang before Maggie Steffens regained the lead for Team USA. With just under one minute remaining in the first period, Julia Bonaguidi took advantage on a power play to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead after one. Musselman put home her first of the day in the second quarter but Siya Yan responded with back-to-back scores for China to cut the deficit to one. That's where the score stayed until the final minute of the half when Bonaguidi rang the register and the Americans held a 5-3 halftime lead.
About ninety seconds into the second half, Team USA got on the board via Emily Ausmus' first on a power play. Nearly four minutes later, Musselman converted an extra player score. After Zewen Deng found China's lone goal of the quarter, Bonaguidi and Musselman both notched their hat tricks to make the score 9-4 in favor of the United States after three periods. To start the final frame, Yan tallied her third goal for China as Ausmus, Steffens, and Rachel Fattal put the finishing touches on the 12-5 victory.
Scoring - Stats via World Aquatics
USA 12 (3, 2, 4, 3) M. Musselman 3, J. Bonaguidi 3, M. Steffens 2, E. Ausmus 2, R. Fattal 1, J. Raney 1
CHN 5 (1, 2, 1, 1) S. Yan 3, Z. Deng 1, J. Zhang 1
Penalties: USA 2/2, CHN 0/0
6-on-5: USA 3/7, CHN 1/6
