Jul 11, 2008

Americans outlast Australians

Villa's hat trick helps USA win 'Blast off to Beijing'

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

Brenda Villa stood at the south end of the Avery Aquatic Center pool, accepting the "Blast off to Beijing" Trophy, perhaps, the first and only trophy of its kind. The USA had just beaten Australia 7-5 Thursday evening in what could be a precursor to the Gold Medal women's water polo match in the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing. USA, the No. 1 seed in Beijing, and No. 2-seeded Australia played in front of an announced crowd of 2,969, the largest crowd to watch a women's water polo match on American soil. Fans, many feeling the Olympic spirit, were standing or sitting in the aisles and hanging on the rails two-deep.

Villa, who helped Stanford win its only NCAA women's water polo title in 2002, had three goals. Included in the trifecta was a non-contested goal from mid-pool as seconds ticked down after Australia pulled its goalie out of the net for offense.

The game was a defensive battle, which was somewhat surprising because the teams had three high-scoring games while facing each other in recent matches. After splitting two one-goal matches, USA put the clamps on the Aussies two nights ago in Coronado, winning 12-6.

"It's a win," said Villa, a USA captain. "It wasn't pretty. We knew that the Australians were going to come out and play good water polo because of the results we had in Coronado. Both teams were a little off on 6-on-5 or the 5-on-6 defense was really good. The defenses cracked down and there were less goals."

USA could have spurted out to a decent lead in the first period, but Australia goalie Alicia McCormack was superb in goal. Heather Petri, who played at Cal, had a point-blank shot saved by McCormack early on. Moments later, Villa passed to Elsie Windes, who had her shot blocked by McCormack at the last second.

"McCormack was tremendous, especially early in the game," USA coach Guy Baker said. "Her play brought the rest of her teammates up."

Villa finally broke the seal with a skip shot past McCormack at the 3:54 mark of the first period. Alison Gregorka, a 2007 grad at Stanford, was instrumental in 5-on-6 situations for Stanford. On one Australian power play, Gregorka made successive stops of shots in front of USA goalie Betsey Armstrong. Gregorka stopped another shot on the next Aussie player-up to help keep the score 1-0 at the end of the first period.

Australia's Taniele Gofers tallied 23 seconds into the second period to tie the score, the Aussie's taking advantage of a quick power play opportunity.

Villa answered at 6:09 with a skillful lob over McCormack. The lead didn't last long as Bronwen Knox skipped a 5-meter penalty shot past Armstrong. Australia took its only lead of the night when Mel Rippon scored on a skip shot.

Gregorka knotted the score 3-3 with 4:52 left in the half as the offenses had their moment at Avery. Petri, who was fabulous at both ends of the pool, electrified the Cal fans in attendance with a long-distance goal with 51 seconds to play in the half.

Windes scored from seven meters out at 5:19 in the third period for 5-3 USA. Up 5-4, the USA moved the ball around the perimeter in a player-up situation. The ball was swung around to the left to Windes, who powered in a goal.

Tempers started to flare midway through the fourth period as Stanford's Jessica Steffens got into it with Australia's Gemma Beadsworth, with Beadsworth getting the benefit of the foul call. Shortly afterwards, Kate Gynther snuck in behind the USA defense and scored to bring Australia within 6-5.

With the pro-USA crowd chanting "USA! USA!", Armstrong made two great saves with the USA a player down to help preserve the win. Not once the whole match was the ball controlled in the 2-meter area by a an offensive player, the match was that tenaciously played.

"Both defenses were excellent," Australia coach Greg McFadden said. "That was the best defense we have played all tour."

McFadden and Baker were thrilled with the atmosphere at Avery.

"This is the greatest venue for water polo I have ever been in," McFadden said.

"The crowd was fantastic," Baker said. "It had that Olympic feeling."



E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.