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2007 Holiday Cup Schedule
ImageDECEMBER 5-9, 2007
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
PARTICIPATING TEAMS:

1) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2) AUSTRALIA
3) CANADA
4) ITALY
5) NETHERLANDS
6) RUSSIA

For the ninth straight year the USA Senior Women’s National team will host the Holiday Cup, an international tournament featuring some of the best the world of women’s water polo has to offer. This year’s event will take place at the Belmont Olympic Pool in Long Beach, CA from December 5-9.

Six of the top nine teams in the world will compete in this year’s cup anchored by the number one ranked team on Earth, the United States. Competition will be fierce however as Australia and Russia will also make the journey to Southern California with those two teams ranking second and third respectively. Italy, Canada, and Netherlands round out the competitors with Italy and Canada ranked fifth and sixth in the world while Netherlands fresh off clinching a berth to the 2008 Olympics ranks ninth.

The schedule of competition will see each team play each other in a round robin type format with points accumulated along the way to decide who will meet on the later days of the event to decide a champion.

Team USA, which has a rich history of domination in this event has like the Netherlands already secured a bid to the 2008 Olympics via their Gold Medal win at the 2007 Pan American Games. As for the Holiday Cup it has been six consecutive titles for the United States dating back to 2000. The event which originally had been a yearly happening has now been modified to take place in the second and third year of the quadrennial period thanks to the emergence of the Women’s World League.

Originally a summertime event held in July the event now finds itself in the winter months. In addition it has evolved over the years from the early days of just four teams participating. Along with an expanded competition pool that was the inclusion of European teams for the first time, namely Russia and the Netherlands in 1999 and later on Italy in 2001. Also the locale for the event has switched a few times from the National Training Center in Los Alamitos, CA, up north to Stanford, CA, further south to La Jolla, CA and now to Long Beach, CA.

While USA and the Netherlands are secure in their plans for the summer of 2008 the other four teams attending the Holiday Cup will be using this event as a solid preparation for their Olympic qualification attempts. Immediately following the Holiday Cup Australia will battle New Zealand in a best of three series down under for the right to an Olympic berth. Meanwhile Russia, Italy, and Canada will compete at the Olympic Qualification Tournament February 19-24 in Imperia, Italy. The top four teams in that event will move on to the Olympics, and that trio will have their hands full with the likes of Hungary, Spain, and Greece.

For Team USA all the action gets underway at 7pm on Wednesday December 5 when they take on Canada. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.usawaterpolo.org

Image10/29/2007
2007 Holiday Cup Schedule
December 3-9
Monday, December 3: TBD
Training NTC
3:15-4:30 TBD
6:30-7:45 TBD
7:45-9:00 TBD

Tuesday, December 4
Training NTC
8:00-10:00 CAN-RUS
10:00-12:00 AUS-ITA
12:00-2:00 USA-NED
Training @ NTC
3:15-4:30 CAN-RUS
6:30-7:45 AUS-ITA
7:45-9:00 USA-NED

Wednesday, December 5
Training NTC
8:00-9:30 ITA-RUS
9:30-11:00 AUS-NED
11:00-12:30 USA-CAN
Competition Belmont
4:00 ITA-RUS
5:30 AUS-NED
7:00 USA-CAN

Thursday, December 6
Competition NTC
9:00 RUS-AUS
10:30 ITA-CAN
12:00 USA-NED
Competition Belmont
4:00 CAN-AUS
5:30 RUS-NED
7:00 USA-ITA

10/29/2007
Friday, December 7
Training NTC
9:00-10:15 RUS-CAN
10:15-11:30 NED-ITA
11:30-12:45 USA-AUS
Competition Belmont
3:30 RUS-CAN
5:00 NED-ITA
6:15 Long Beach Wilson vs. TBD
7:30 USA-AUS

Saturday, December 8
Training NTC
8:00-9:15 CAN-NED
9:15-10:30 AUS-ITA
10:30-11:45 USA-RUS
Competition Belmont
2:00 CAN-NED
3:30 AUS-ITA
5:00 USA-RUS
7:00 Official Dinner

Sunday, December 9
Training NTC
8:00-9:00 5th and 6th place teams
9:00-10:00 3rd and 4th place teams
10:00-11:00 1st and 2nd place teams
Competition Belmont
2:00 5th place game
3:30 3rd place game
5:00 1st place game
6:15 Long Beach Wilson vs. TBD
7:30 USA-AUS
 
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