Rome, Italy - -- Kazakhstan led early and often in the first period of their opening match with the United States, and then never again. Team USA asserted themselves as defending champs using the final three quarters to rout their opponent pulling away for a 19-6 victory on the first day of the FINA World Championships.
Underneath a sweltering sun the United States got off to a slow start as Kazakhstan posted three straight goals to open up a 3-0 advantage at the 5:23 mark in the period. Rather than call a time out, first year Head Coach Adam Krikorian let his team weather the storm and they charged back. Moriah van Norman (San Diego, CA/USC) drew an exclusion at the 4:40 mark and would score moments later to notch the first goal of the day. Trailing 3-1 the ball went back into van Norman and she delivered again with a wicked backhand to draw within a goal at 3-2 in favor of Kazakhstan. The United States was able to tie things up when van Norman was subbed out for Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC) who immediately got to work at two meters and delivered a score for a tie game at 3-3.
Kazakhstan used a player advantage to take the lead back at 4-3 with 1:36 left in the period, but that would be the end of their highlights on this day. Early in the second stanza Kelly Rulon (Point Loma, CA/UCLA) converted off a five meter drawn by Craig and the action was tied again at 4. From there Rulon scored on the counter attack to post a 5-4 advantage. The goals then started to come in bunches; Brittany Hayes (Santa Ana, CA/USC) found the left corner, Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, CA/USC) took a dish from Hayes to find the net, and then Wenger flipped in a rebounded shot and quickly it was 8-4 in favor of the United States.
The period was closed out with another van Norman backhand and the lead was 9-5 in favor of the red, white, and blue. Coming out of the intermission leading by four, it was more of the same in the third quarter. Craig again worked over a Kazakhstan defender down low for a score and then Tanya Gandy (San Diego, CA/UCLA) got in on the action with a direct shot for a score. Alison Gregorka (Ann Arbor, MI/Stanford) slipped in side and took a sweet dish from Hayes for an easy score while Hayes hit again on a player advantage and before long it was 13-5 in favor of the United States. The USA centers continued their free clinic in front of the net, this time it was Craig icing the period with back to back scores, the last on a spin move that left this game in no doubt.
Up comfortably 15-5 headed to the fourth the United States kept their foot on the gas when Hayes put home her third score of the day and then less than two seconds later team captain Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford) hit on a five meter penalty. Kazakhstan let a player with three exclusions linger in the game too long forcing the penalty. The country newly famous for it's place in the movie "Borat" added on two late scores in the fourth period to draw within 18-6. This however was answered by Villa who put the cap on this contest with her second goal of the day to give the game to the USA 19-6.
Betsey Armstrong and Jaime Komer combined in net for the win posting 8 saves. USA went for a perfect 2/2 on penalty shots and 3/9 on player advantages holding Kazakhstan to just 2/10. Next up for Team USA will be a match with Russia on Wednesday at 10:50am local Italy time.
Flash Quotes:
On the game
"It's our first game at World Championships and we didn't really know the opponent, to struggle it's normal, but it shows the team we have, we can pick it up, nobody thought for a second we were going to lose." Moriah van Norman, USA Center
On her and Craig's performance
"I think when teams are pressing like that and Kami and I can get position and get a hold of the ball it's a good day for a center" - Moriah van Norman, USA Center
On the slow start
"I think definitely a little jitters and its tough to play a team that you don't know. I think there is a little element of surprise that is tough to deal with. The thing that was the best, I was just proud of the way they came back. I was debating in my head to call a timeout and I made a decision to not call time out and I wanted to see how they handled it. I'm glad I didn't call timeout because they handled it very, very well, very calm and composed and just stuck to how we want to play and ultimately that was the key." Adam Krikorian, USA Head Coach
On the play of van Norman and Craig
"Kami and Moriah did a great job, both of them, they feed off each other very well. They are two great centers and they will be tough to handle for any team. Kazakhstan chose to go one on one with them and obviously they paid the price." Adam Krikorian, USA Head Coach
Scoring:
USA (3, 6, 6, 4) K. Craig 4, M. van Norman 3, B. Hayes 3, B. Villa 2, L. Wenger 2, K. Rulon 2, T. Gandy 1, A. Gregorka 1, J. Steffens 1
KAZ (4, 1, 0, 1) N. Kutuzova 1, N. Rybachek 1, A. Zubkova 1, Y. Gariyeva 1, M. Gritisenko 1, A. Rozhentseva 1
Saves - USA - B. Armstrong 6, J. Komer 2 - KAZ - G. Rytova 8
Penalties - USA 2-2 - KAZ - 0/0
6x5 - USA - 3/9 KAZ - 2/10
