Stanford senior Kiley Neushul scored three times and the United States national women’s water polo downed the Netherlands, 6-5, on Saturday to capture the crown of the Kirishi Cup in Russia.
The Americans (16-2-1) will next compete at the FINA World Cup, which begins Aug. 12 in Russia.
Neushul scored Team USA’s first two goals, both in the first period. She also scored to give the U.S. a 6-2 lead with 6:44 remaining to play.
The United States converted two of seven power plays and its only penalty shot.
“We struggled to execute offensively but thankfully our defense was sharp,” U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said. “It’s been a great combination of training and competition for us over these two weeks. We’ve made progress and I look forward to the journey ahead.”
Men’s water polo
Stanford junior Alex Bowen scored four goals as the United States men’s national team played Montenegro to 9-9 draw on day two of the Deutschland Cup in Dosseldorf, Germany on Saturday.
Stanford senior Bret Bonanni added three goals for the Americans, who converted half of their 10 power-play opportunities.
Team USA (11-13-1) plays Hungary on Sunday.
Men’s volleyball
The race for the FIVB World League Final Round will come down to the final match for the U.S. Men’s National Team after it suffered at 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 loss to Serbia in Novi Sad on Friday.
The U.S. Men (8-3 with 21 points) remain in first place in Pool B, but their lead over Serbia (7-4 with 20 points) has been cut to one point and the lead over Russia (5-5 with 18 points), which is playing at Bulgaria (1-9 with 10 points) on Saturday and Sunday, is three points.
The U.S. Men will finish World League pool play against Serbia on Sunday in Beograd. A 3-0 or 3-1 victory will give them three points, a 3-2 victory would give the U.S. two points and Serbia one point.
“Serbia played great. I am a little concerned with the way we responded, we didn’t play very well,” U.S. coach John Speraw said. “We need to be tougher than that. We have to chat as a team, because we put ourselves in a difficult position, and now we need to win on Sunday. We worked very hard from the start of the competition, but this pool is so tough. If we lose in Beograd, we will go home, and that would be a shame after all that we did in this year’s competition.”
Libero Erik Shoji, a Stanford grad, was credited with nine excellent receptions and two digs.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Water Polo
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Water Polo
By Palo Alto Online Sports/USA Water Polo