Team USA Water Polo: United States Women Take On Spain

NBC is giving a lot of pub to United States water polo and for the third straight day there will be live coverage (for those East and Central time zone folks) at 1:20 p.m. ET on NBC. The United States is looking to improve to 2-0 as they take on Spain who so far is also 1-0 after defeated China 11-6.

The big question in this game is if Maggie Steffens can continue her scoring magic for Team USA's first win over Hungary where she tied an Olympic record with seven goals. Spain should be smart enough to leave the future Stanford Cardinal not anything open from the outside. Also, there is Courtney Mathewson who had a big game as well with four goals. With this being a veteran squad it only helps their chances of finally winning gold with these new players stepping up big.

Spain has been an up and down team and at the 2011 World Championships they struggled and earned 11th place, but in pool play they lost to eventual world champion Greece 10-9, but they also lost to Russia 18-8 who earned third.

The United States did not far well in that tournament either as they finished in a disappointing eighth place against Australia.

However, in the FINA World League it was the United States who won that tournament and Spain did not even get out of their European region.

These two teams rarely have met over the last few years, so it will be a new experience when they take on Spain on Wednesday. The United States will need their offense to be fully clicking, Spain allowed China to go go 6-of-25 shooing and while goalie Laura Ester Ramos only had three blocks their field players were very active in disrupting the Chinese shots.

As for a prediction, Team USA will win 12-8 after starting off slow.

Game Time: 1:20 p.m. ET

TV: NBC. 1:20 p.m. ET/12:20 p.m. CT (Live), 12:20 p.m. MT & PT (Tape Delay)

Streaming: NBCOlympics.com