Salvador, Brazil - August 12 - The USA Junior Women defeated Italy 14-6 today at the World Aquatics U20 World Championship. Julia Bonaguidi was named player of the match after she scored six goals while Christine Carpenter and Lauren Steele combined for eight saves in the cage. Team USA advances straight into the quarterfinals on Thursday at 3pm et/12pm pt with the opponent TBD. Live streaming of all matches is available through the World Aquatics YouTube page by clicking here. Live stats of all matches are provided from Microplus by clicking here.
Team USA got the first goal of the game half a minute in courtesy of Kamryn Barone. Shortly after, the Americans earned a penalty and cashed in when Bonaguidi rang the register from five meters. Italy would halve the deficit with a great bar down goal before Bonaguidi put home back-to-back goals to push the lead to three with an early hat trick. The Italian side would strike back with consecutive goals of its own to leave the score at 4-3 in favor of the United States after one.
Bonaguidi remained aggressive to start the second quarter, scoring first to add to her total. Emily Ausmus got involved from there when she buried a penalty attempt followed by a fadeaway shot that beat the goalkeeper. Carpenter and the Team USA defense held strong all quarter long to send the game into halftime with a 7-3 American lead.
The Italians earned a penalty and converted on the attempt to begin the third period but Bonaguidi had an immediate answer on the other end. Next, Steele dropped a perfect pass to Ausmus who put it away on the counter attack and Lucy Haaland-Ford scored to give the United States double digits on the day. Late in the period, Ausmus rose up from deep to beat the shot clock buzzer as Team USA took an 11-4 advantage into the final frame.
In the fourth, it was Haaland-Ford who had the first word. She followed it up with another score to notch a second half hat trick. Midway through the quarter, Bonaguidi chimed in again to run the American lead to ten. From there, the Italians scored again for the first time since the opening moments of the half but it was too little, too late as Team USA claimed the 14-6 win.
Team USA went 1/2 on power plays and 1/1 on penalties while Italy went 0/3 on power plays with no penalties attempted.
Scoring - Stats
USA 14 (4, 3, 4, 3) J. Bonaguidi 6, E. Ausmus 4, L. Haaland-Ford 3, K. Barone 1
ITA 6 (3, 0, 1, 2) E. Bianco 2, E. De March 1, B. Rosta 1, B. Cassara 1, C. Malluzzo 1
Saves - USA - C. Carpenter 6, L. Steele 2 - ITA - O. Sesena 4
6x5 - USA - 1/2 - ITA - 0/3
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - ITA - 0/0
