During this morning's practice, the teams were separated by an imaginary line in the pool, with all 13 members of Team USA on one side and a fraction of the Dutch to their right. While the coaches and players shared an occasional glance back and forth from time to time, it was clear that both teams intended to keep their distance until game time later that evening.
"We're here to focus on what we need to do. We're conscience of our opponents, but we don't alter our training based on who we're going to play next," commented USA Head Coach Guy Baker.
For Team USA, the game is all about fundamentals - shooting and 5 on 6, to be exact. In the hour long practice Baker and assistant coaches Kyle Kopp and Heather Moody directed the squad of 13 through a series of drills while the small group of Dutch players and coaches seemed to take a much lighter approach to their warm up time.
"I'm ready!" exclaimed team captain and two-time Olympic medalist Brenda Villa. "We left the US over two weeks ago and we're finally here. The Sydney Tournament gave us a lot of information and we had a great practice yesterday, so we're ready to play tonight."
With four World Championships and two Olympic medals under her belt, when Villa says she's ready, I believe her!
And what did happen in the match?
It was a cage rattling match between Team USA and the Netherlands tonight in their opening game of the 2007 FINA World Championships. Tied at three each at the half, USA Women struggled on their 6 on 5 and knew they had to improve their shooting in order to take control of the game. Anchored by goalie Betsey Armstrong, the US was able to push ahead of the Dutch in the third quarter starting with a goal from Lauren Wenger at 6:21 to tie the game 4-4, followed by swift and fast response from Alison Gregorka to give Team USA a one goal lead 5-4. USA continued to dominate the third quarter with a 58.4 km/h shot from Natalie Golda followed by a beautiful drop from in front of the cage from 19 year old rookie Kami Craig. Netherlands’ #7 lefke Van Belkum, however, continued to connect her shots and earned her fourth goal of the night in the fourth quarter, to bring the Dutch within one of Team USA. With four minutes on the clock, Ericka Lorenz sent a hard and fast shot clocked at 60.1 km/h into the Netherlands goal. Elsie Windes sealed the win for Team USA with another goal at 1:39 giving the US a two goal advantage to win the game 9-7.
