U.S. women’s water polo team beats Italy to reach semifinals

LONDON -- Talk about fast-forwarding the process. The U.S. women’s water polo players were barely out of the pool before questions started coming about a familiar opponent from a far-away land.

“Bring it on,” said Melissa Seidemann. “Let’s go. ... There’s a heated rivalry.”

Seidemann was talking about Australia.

It should be said that Seidemann punctuated those fighting words with a smile and a good dose of laughter Sunday night.

She scored three goals in leading the U.S. to a 9-6 victory over Italy at the Water Polo Arena, setting up a semifinal game against longtime rival Australia on Tuesday. Australia beat China, 20-18, after a shootout in a quarterfinal matchup.

The U.S. advanced with balanced scoring and an impressive display of shutdown defense in the middle two periods and scored on six of 11 power-play opportunities. What put it out of reach was a 5-0 run, which turned a 3-1 first-period deficit into a 6-3 lead early in the third quarter.

In fact, the U.S. limited Italy to one goal in the middle two quarters.

For the U.S., Brenda Villa and Kelly Rulon each scored twice, and the other two goals came from Maggie Steffens and Courtney Mathewson. Betsey Armstrong made 13 saves.

Tania di Mario had three goals for Italy, whose coach, Fabio Conti, was ejected from the pool deck in the fourth quarter after tossing a water bottle.

“I talked about building as the tournament progressed,” Coach Adam Krikorian said. “Our second game was better than our first. Our third was better than our second and today we were better than the Chinese game. I’m really happy with how we played defensively. It’s a big key for us.”

The U.S. lost to Australia in the gold-medal game in 2000, beat Australia in the 2004 Games in the bronze-medal game and in the semifinals in Beijing four years ago.

“I think they probably have a little more size on us, altogether,” Krikorian said. “Not that we’re small. But they’re a little bigger. Other than that, we’re pretty similar. It’s going to be a heck of a game.”

In other quarterfinal games Sunday, Spain beat Britain, 9-7, and Hungary beat Russia, 11-10.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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