Wednesday’s win over Puerto Rico marked the fifth straight for the U.S. squad, which notched victories earlier in the week against Brazil (10-3), Canada (10-8), Cuba (14-6) and Venezuela (21-3). The U.S. held control of Wednesday’s game throughout, winning all four sprints and shooting over 56 percent, compared with 8 percent from the Puerto Ricans. Six U.S. athletes scored, led by five goals from attacker Erika Figge (Santa Margarita, Calif.). Figge also had two steals and one block.
“We got off to a really good start early in the game which is great, because we hadn’t been able to do it earlier in the week,“ Figge said. “We just took it one possession at a time, and it was a good win to get under our belt. I wasn’t paying too much attention to numbers (of goals) but just tried to take shots when I was open. I think that the scoring (by numerous players) really says that we’re a well-rounded team. Anybody can be on on any night and in a lot of cases we get more than six people scoring goals in one game, which his something that’s really cool, because everybody can take care of business.”
The U.S. squad now turns their attention to Cuba for Thursday’s semi-final match. The winner moves on to the gold medal game and will play the winner of the Canada vs. Brazil game. “I feel great going into the semi-final after two big games back-to-back against Canada and Brazil,” captain Brenda Villa (Commerce, Calif.) said. “Beating Brazil at home really gave us more energy.”
About USA Water Polo: USA Water Polo, Inc. is a non-profit corporation organized for the purpose to serve as the national governing body for the sport of water polo in the United States under the auspices of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). For more information please visit www.usawaterpolo.com.
