Former Dos Pueblos player Jewel Roemer scored the winning goal for Team USA in a tight 11-10 win over Italy to advance to Saturday’s semifinals at the FINA World League Super Final in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Dos Pueblos alum Ryann Neushul scored two goals in the game.
Team USA relinquished a 5-2 first quarter lead and led 7-6 at the half. Italy managed to take a 10-9 lead late in the fourth quarter before the Americans scored two.
Neushul called the match “our most physical of the tournament—Italy attacked us in transition after every shot on goal.”
USA defeated Netherlands and Canada in the first two days of pool play. They will face Hungary in Saturday’s second semi-final. Spain and Netherlands will face off in the first semi-final. The winners will play for Gold on Sunday while the runners-up will compete for Bronze.
Rachel Fattal from Los Alamitos is the only field player from the Gold-medal Tokyo Olympics team competing on the Tenerife squad. The Olympic goalies, Ashleigh Johnson and Santa Barbara’s Amanda Longan are both in goal at the Super Final.