Paris, France - July 27 - The U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Team opened up their title defense in Paris with a dominant 15-6 victory over Greece. Olympic rookie
Jenna Flynn led a balanced diet on offense as she delivered four goals to pace an attack that saw nine different athletes find the cage.
Ashleigh Johnson recorded 10 saves through a little over three quarters before
Amanda Longan came on to slam the door, adding a save. Team USA returns to competition on Monday when they meet Spain in group play at 3:35pm local time/9:35am et/6:35am pt. The match will air LIVE on USA Network and stream on Peacock.
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In their first match since suffering their first loss of the year, Team USA left no doubt about their plans as they opened the match with a 3-0 burst.
Rachel Fattal hit on a power play for a 1-0 lead in the opening two minutes. Not long after
Maggie Steffens added to her all-time Olympic goal tally with her 57th score in her career, giving Team USA a 2-0 edge. Flynn finished the period with a power play for the three goal edge.
The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Team USA ran up a 7-0 advantage.
Maddie Musselman converted on a penalty,
Kaleigh Gilchrist found the cage,
Jovana Sekulic powered home a shot from two-meters and Flynn added her second goal of the day to add to the cushion. Greece broke through with their first goal moments later but Team USA answered with a goal from
Emily Ausmus and another from Flynn for a 9-2 lead at intermission.
Scoring tapered off a bit in the third quarter but the United States continued to add to their lead. Steffens opened the third with another goal followed by the first of the day for
Tara Prentice. The UC Irvine grad would add one more in the period and Team USA headed to the fourth in front 12-4.
Jewel Roemer scored her first Olympic goal early in the fourth quarter for a 13-4 lead. After Greece got their fifth goal of the day, Team USA finished things off with tallies from Flynn and Sekulic for a 15-6 win.
Team USA went 7/8 on power plays and 2/3 on penalties while Greece went 3/13 on power plays with no penalties attempted.
Scoring -
Stats
USA 15 (3, 6, 3, 3) J. Flynn 4, J. Sekulic 2, T. Prentice 2, M. Steffens 2, M. Musselman 1, R. Fattal 1, E. Ausmus 1, J. Roemer 1, K. Gilchrist 1
GRE 6 (0, 2, 2, 2) E. Plevritou 1, N. Eleftheriadou 1, E. Xenaki 1, E. Ninou 1, V. Plevritou 1
Saves - USA - A. Johnson 10, A. Longan 1 - GRE - C. Diamontopoulou 4, I. Stamatopoulou 2
6x5 - USA - 7/8 - GRE - 3/13
Penalties - USA - 2/3 - GRE - 0/0
