Women win gold despite Canadian protest

Rome, Italy - August 1 - A protest lodged by Canada following last night's 7-6 defeat at the hands of the USA Women's Senior National Team was formally denied this morning in a meeting with FINA officials. With the ruling the USA Women are officially World Champions for the second consecutive time and third time this decade.

Canada had protested a game misconduct call in the second quarter of last night's game. The victory for the United States women puts them alone in the history of women's water polo with three World Championships.
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Rome, Italy - July 31 - The wind has temporarily been taken out of the USA Women's Senior National Team's sails. Moments after their Gold Medal winning victory over Canada, 7-6, in the finals of the 2009 FINA World Championships a protest was lodged by the Canadians, with a ruling expected Saturday morning in Rome. The protest comes from Canada in regards to a game misconduct called against the United States' Elsie Windes (Portland, OR/California) with 27 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Canada has protested that they should have been awarded a player advantage following the game misconduct, which they were not. According to USA Water Polo officials an addendum was recently made to the rule book referring to this type of situation where sides in fact remain even after the game misconduct, which is how the officials ruled during the match. An update on the matter will be posted on usawaterpolo.org tomorrow morning in Rome once a decision is rendered.

If the outcome stands it marks the third World Championship for the United States women, a record among all nations with women's water polo. It is also three titles for USA veterans Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford) and Heather Petri (Orinda, CA/California). In addition it is the first major FINA Championship for Head Coach Adam Krikorian, who joined the staff this spring.

Protests aside this match was a defensive battle throughout with goals coming at a premium. Canada would strike first with a goal at the 5:13 mark after a five meter penalty was called against the United States. Canada converted the player advantage and led 1-0. This was short lived as less than a minute later it was the United States striking on a power play courtesy of Petri for a tie game at 1-1. Canada would answer last as they went inside to center Krystina Alogbo for a spinning goal and the lead 2-1 going to the second period.

In the second quarter the USA offense started to get into a groove. Lauren Wenger (Long Beach, CA/USC), the Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 World Championships connected for a goal from distance for a tie game at 2-2 just 25 seconds into the period. A minute and change later and it was Villa answering the call on a quick catch and shoot for the first lead of the match at 3-2. Canada rallied with consecutive goals and built a 4-3 lead with 4:19 left in the period. Team USA then went inside and found results as Kami Craig (Santa Barbara, CA/USC) powered her way towards the net for a score and a 4-4 game. Some three minutes later came a goal from Windes off a rebound for a 5-4 lead. This was followed by the game misconduct, ruled as Windes came up in celebration but inadvertently made contact with her defender.

The USA held the one goal lead going into the third but the offensive well ran dry in the early second half. Both teams were scoreless until the 2:57 mark when Canada came through with a player advantage goal to tie the match at 5-5. That was the score going to the fourth and final frame. The red, white, and blue got the lead back in a hurry, as after a Canada exclusion it was Kelly Rulon (Point Loma, CA/UCLA) hitting the back of the net for the 6-5 advantage. Canada drew another five meter penalty and was able to convert at the 3:58 mark to once again knot the game, this time at 6-6.

If there hadn't been enough oddities thus far things got a little stranger at the 3:43 mark. Craig worked inside to draw a five meter penalty which was to be shot by Rulon. On Rulon's first attempt she missed to the right but was knocked into by Alogbo on the release. This led to a second five meter being call and Alogbo sent from the match. This time Rulon converted and the lead was 7-6. From there the defense made stop after stop thanks in part to 11 saves from Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, MI/Michigan) and the United States was able to come away the winners and recipients of the Gold Medal.

The USA went 3/10 on power plays and 1/2 on five meter penalties while Canada was 2/9 on power plays and 1/1 on penalty shots. Canada goalie Rachel Riddell has 12 saves on the day and was named the tourneys top goalkeeper. In earlier action Russia defeated Greece to claim the Bronze Medal.