“I think Canada did a really good job defensively,” head coach Guy Baker said. “They exposed some of the things we need to work on for next year. But tonight, our 5-on-6 defense was the whole key. We shut them out. They didn’t score on us 6-v-5; they were 0 for 5 in their attempts. We ended up 2-for-5 in our attempts during 6-v-5, and we won by 2 points.”
Five U.S. players contributed a goal in the victory at the Julio Delamare Aquatic Park, with Gregorka scoring two. Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, Calif.) had a whopping four steals along with her goal. Canada held on until the end, scoring their final score with just 14 seconds remaining in the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the dominant U.S. Team.
So dominant, in fact, is the U.S. Team, that they have not lost a game since August of 2006, during a World Cup game to Russia. This season the team is 30-0-1, with the tie occurring against Australia in the pre-tournament leading up the World Championships. They went on to win gold at the World Championships, the World League Championships and now, the Pan American Championships. With Friday’s win securing their spot at the 2008 Olympics, it’s obvious the next title the U.S. women have in mind.
“It takes my breath away just thinking about going to the Olympics,” Wenger said. “It’s every athlete’s dream. It’s an awesome, breathtaking opportunity. We’re almost there, and we just made it that much closer by qualifying. We know it’s out there. As a team, we can’t focus on it completely, we have a long road and a lot to get done, but it’s always in the back of our head. The ultimate goal is to get there and to get into the medal round.”
Added two-time Olympian and captain Brenda Villa (Commerce, Calif.): “I was confident enough that if we played a good game we’d qualify, but this gives us that much more time to prepare. You feed off the energy of your team. You look at the faces of the younger players and it gives you this new excitement for it, like you’re starting this new journey all over again with 13 players.”
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.
