Reserve Goalie Leads U.S.

After losing her starting role a year ago, goalie Nicolle Payne was just happy to get back into the pool in a big-time tournament.

Payne stopped 12 shots and the U.S. women’s water polo team held on to defeat Australia, 8-7, Wednesday in the second round of pool play at the Holiday Cup Tournament at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Center.

Coralie Simmons scored three goals for the Americans, who are in first place in the six-day event after Canada’s 5-4 victory over one of the tournament favorites, The Netherlands.

Russia defeated Kazakhstan, 14-6, in the third game.

The U.S. rallied Tuesday to defeat Canada, 12-9, and Australia nearly did the same to the Americans Wednesday.

The U.S., which never trailed, held leads of 4-1 at the start of the second quarter and 7-3 midway through the third quarter.

Each time Australia rallied, several times by beating Payne with goals off rebounds that bounced off goal posts or the crossbar. But that was the only way they seemed to be able to push the ball past the resilient goalkeeper.

“It was good to be out there playing again,” Payne said. “I think I did a good job of directing the defense. This gives us a little bit of confidence in our game andwill give us a boost with training.”

Payne is scheduled to rotate with starter Bernice Orwig until pool play ends Saturday with a game against The Netherlands that could decide who will play in Sunday’s gold medal game. Orwig has been nursing a sore shoulder but is expected to be ready for the Olympics.

Australia is also considered an favorite for the Olympic gold, but it didn’t play like a champion Wednesday.

“We had problems with our shooting,” Coach Gorgenyl Istvan said. “This shows that the, United States is a very strong team.”

Simmons’ third goal gave the U.S. a 7-3 lead with 3 minutes 48 seconds left in the third quarter. Australia took advantage of several U.S. ejections and poor ball-handling by the Americans to pull within 7-6 with 2:22 remaining.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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.--Kazakhstan vs. Canada; 7:15--Netherlands vs. Australia; 8:30--U.S. vs. Russia.

* 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.

* Website: https://www.holidaycup.com

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