Women's water polo hosts Team USA in exhibition

Ever been to the Olympics? If not, you are in for a treat.

Tonight, at 7, the women's water polo team welcomes Olympic-bound Team USA to DeNunzio Pool.

Princeton is only one stop on a national collegiate tour for Team USA, a tour they take through March and April. Prior to last year, Team USA did not include collegiate teams in its competition schedule, but Guy Baker added this measure to the team when he took over as head coach.

Baker believes that in addition to giving people who would not normally have the opportunity to see the US women's water polo team play the chance to do so, the collegiate tour enables Team USA to get some good preparation for the Olympic games.

Team USA is the gold-medal favorite at the Olympic games in Athens this summer, improving from its No. 8 world ranking in 1998, the position at which it was placed before Baker assumed the job of head coach.

So far on its collegiate tour, Team USA has ousted San Diego State, Hartwick College and Stanford. Most recently, USA defeated Michigan, 14-3, last Tuesday and destroyed the Bucknell Bisons, 19-2, on Friday.

Team USA's wins over Hartwick and San Diego St. are indicators of the challenge that Princeton will face. The Tigers met both the Hawks and the Aztecs earlier this season, falling to both, 9-7 and 11-7, respectively.

However, Team USA did not dominate the Aztecs easily. The San Diego St. came out fighting in the first half, keeping the game scoreless through the first 13 minutes of the game before USA center Ellen Estes finally put two goals in the back of the net. With fellow teammates Amber Stachowski and Heather Moody both out due to injuries, Estes carried most of the game.

The San Diego St. goalie managed to block several strong shots from such offensive threats as USA member Ericka Lorenza, while Aztec Sandy Onweller helped keep San Diego in the game with her own scoring efforts. Several man-up opportunities allowed USA to bump itself up a goal. Team USA finally gained its largest lead going into halftime when Estes scored off a pass from Thalia Munro to put it up 5-3.

In the Stanford game, seven different members of Team USA posted goals in the 14-7 victory over the Cardinal. The win was Team USA's third straight on the tour.

Team USA had several members who found the waters of Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center welcoming. Not only has Avery been the site of some National Team competitions, but several current players on Team USA are Stanford alums, including Estes and Brenda Villa.

Team USA seemed to find its rhythm moving into the second quarter, pulling ahead of the Cardinal 3-1 and never looking back. The second half opened with a four-goal streak for Team USA, and Stanford found itself overrun by the powerful Olympic-bound squad.

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"We always like balanced scoring," Baker told Eric Valezquez of the USA Olympic site following the Stanford game. "We weren't as crisp and sharp as I'd like. We're still getting used to that. The college teams are so excited to play, and we're still kicking it into gear. It's good for us to play these games."

Coming off a disappointing performance at ECACs over the weekend of April 3-4, tonght's game will help rev up the Tigers for their upcoming games. Though they went into ECACs with high expectations that went unanswered, the team still hopes to do well at Southerns and Easterns.

Undoubtedly, they will have their work cut out for them tonight as they face a powerful team that has had recent success against strong collegiate forces. But the chance to play an Olympic-bound squad hardly comes along every day and the Tigers look forward to the opportunity to do so.

This will be the last home game for the Princeton this season. Southerns and Easterns will take place on April 17-18 and 23-24, respectively.