Sydney, Australia - July 22 - The USA Women defeated China today, 14-8, in the quarterfinals at the 2026 World Aquatics World Cup Final. Emily Ausmus scored four goals while goalkeeper Amanda Longan notched seven saves in the cage. Team USA moves on to the semifinals on Friday, July 24 with time and opponent TBD. Live streaming will be available on the World Aquatics Recast channel with live statistics on Microplus Timing Services.
After winning the sprint, China struck first on the game's opening possession for an early lead. The United States turned to Ausmus on the power play for an equalizer and again from five meters to take the lead on a penalty shot. China answered to tie the score before Tara Prentice and Ryann Neushul doubled the American advantage. Two more Chinese goals leveled things once again but Jenna Flynn put Team USA ahead 5-4 at the end of the first quarter with a counter attack strike.
Turnovers and good defense both ways led to over five minutes of scoreless action to begin the second period until Paige Hauschild finally broke through with a power play goal to start the scoring. Flynn pushed the United States lead to 7-4 on a penalty shot before the break.
The Americans began to slowly wrest control of the game from China in the second half. Ausmus and Neushul each scored again midway through the third quarter before Flynn added another tally to her name as well to set the score at 10-4 after three.
In the final frame, both Ausmus and Ella Woodhead put home goals to begin before China answered with its own pair of scores. Jordan Raney had the next word from a penalty shot but then China found the back of the net twice more. From there, Neushul put the finishing touches on the 14-8 victory.
Team USA went 5/10 on power plays and 3/5 on penalties while China went 4/7 on power plays with no penalties attempted.
Scoring - Stats
USA 14 (5, 2, 3, 4) E. Ausmus 4, J. Flynn 3, R. Neushul 3, P. Hauschild 1, T. Prentice 1, J. Raney 1, E. Woodhead 1
CHN 8 (4, 0, 0, 4) Y. Shao 2, L. Xie 1, J. Yan 1, S. Yan 1, Q. Zhang 1, Y. Zhang 1, S. Zhou 1
Saves - USA - A. Longan 7 - CHN - Y. Shen 7
6x5 - USA - 5/10 - CHN - 4/7
Penalties - USA - 3/5 - CHN - 0/0
