U.S. Continues to Roll, Tops Russia

The United States team has been steaming along at the Holiday Cup women’s water polo tournament at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center and Thursday night was no exception.

The Americans got goals from nine players and easily defeated Russia, 13-7.

If they can do this in Sydney this fall at the Olympics, well. . . gold medal talk was overheard in a few corners of the aquatic facility as the crowd of 1,150 filed out.

“I’m happy with where we are,” U.S. Coach Guy Baker said. “It all seems to be coming together. I’m happy with where we are in our offense, for us to be putting quite a few goals on the boards.”

Russia fell to 1-2 in the tournament.

Ericka Lorenz and Coralie Simmons scored three goals each for the U.S. and goalie Bernice Orwig, who sat out Wednesday’s victory over Australia, stopped eight shots.

“We’ve definitely come a long way since qualifying for the Olympics,” Lorenz said. “Since then, we’ve really gained a lot of confidence. Playing here is a chance to prove that we are a good team and see how far we have come.”

Canada (2-1) won its second consecutive game Thursday and Australia (2-1) beat The Netherlands (1-2), which means the U.S. (3-0) is close to locking up a spot in Sunday’s final. The U.S. faces winless Kazakhstan tonight and the defending world champion The Netherlands, which is struggling, Saturday.

About the only trouble the U.S. experienced against Russia came in the second quarter. After bolting to a 4-1 first-quarter lead, the U.S. allowed three consecutive man-advantage goals for Russia.

But a goal by Courtney Johnson off an assist by Simmons got the U.S. back on track just before halftime.

“We were not together in that quarter,” Lorenz said. “There were a lot of individual efforts going on and we let down after getting the lead like we did.”

In other games:

Canada 10, Kazakhstan 6--Canada won its second consecutive game behind four goals from Johanne Begin. Begin scored her second goal just 56 seconds before halftime, then Canada scored four consecutive goals in the third period for a 9-3 lead.

Canada, which lost to the U.S. Tuesday, 12-9, plays Australia tonight at 6.

Australia 7, The Netherlands 5--The Aussies used a balanced attack and took a 5-4 lead with 6 minutes, 37 seconds remaining on a goal by Yvette Higgins.

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Women’s Water Polo

* What: Women’s Holiday Cup

* When: Today-Sunday

* Where: USA Water Polo National Aquatic Center, on the Joint Forces Training Base, 11200 Lexington Dr., Los Alamitos

* Basics: Tournament features all six teams that will compete in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, including the current world champion, Australia, the 1999 World Cup champion Netherlands, Pan-American Games champion Canada, Asian champion Kazakhstan and the two entrants from the World Olympic Qualification tournament, Russia and the United States.

* Today’s schedule: 6 p.m.--Australia vs. Canada; 7:15--Netherlands vs. Russia; 8:30--U.S. vs. Kazakhstan.

* Tickets: All sessions--$32 for adults, $20 for students; individual sessions--$10 for adults, $6 for students; finals only--$12 for adults, $8 for students.

* Information: City of Los Alamitos, Recreation and Community Services Dept., (562) 430-1073