Local players Paige Hauschild, Abbi Hill and Jewel Roemer each scored goals for the Team USA Senior Women’s Water Polo Team in a 12-7 win over Kazakhstan in the first round of play at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament, held at the Schaal Aquatics Center on the campus of UC Davis on Tuesday night.
This is the first competition for Team USA since winning the Olympic Games gold medal in Rio de Janeiro last summer.
Hauschild is a senior at San Marcos High while Hill is a sophomore and Roemer a freshman at Dos Pueblos.
Dos Pueblos junior Ryann Neushul had four steals and a drawn five-meter.
Olympic gold medalists Melissa Seideman and Aria Fischer led all scorers with four goals apiece.
Team USA meets Japan on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Japan won a surprise 13-8 victory over a veteran Canadian squad on Tuesday. Australia defeated China 13-6 in the third game of the six-nation tournament.
“We hope to get better each game. We have a lot of young players that need to learn a lot in a short period of time,” said U.S. coach Adam Krikorian. “The beauty is in the details. I wouldn’t expect them to know all the little things that make big things happen. But this is why they’re here. This is a great experience and I hope they learn a ton.”
This is the first time four Santa Barbara players have appeared on a Team USA Senior Women’s Team roster. Santa Barbara’s Kami Craig, Sami Hill, and Kiley Neushul won gold with Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.