WATER POLO HOLIDAY CUP: CANADIANS SINK U.S. IN OPENER CANADA 5, U.S. 4.

Byline: Dave Werstine Staff Writer

LOS ALAMITOS - If there's one day of the year that the U.S. women's national water polo team has to be regarded as a sure bet, it's the Fourth of July.

Right?

Well, somebody must have forgotten to notify Canada, which exacted a small dose of revenge against the U.S. on the American's day of celebration with a 5-4 win in the opening round of the Holiday Cup on Wednesday night at the USA Water polo National Aquatics Center on the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.

With the victory, the Canadians also took hold of the Silva Cup - a perpetual trophy which is awarded after every U.S-Canada game played in Los Alamitos - for the first time.

``We played hard ... but this doesn't mean anything,'' Canadian coach Daniel Berthelette said. ``We have to win when it counts.''

Like in the upcoming FINA World Championships in Japan and in the Olympics, where the Canadians earned a bittersweet fifth place last summer.

``That was a hard pill to swallow,'' Berthelette said, recalling his team's experience in Sydney - in particular a setback against the U.S., which came back from an 8-5 deficit with two minutes to go to get a tie and stopped Canada from advancing to the medal round.

Canada scored on 3 of 4 power-play opportunities and proved to be equally successful against the U.S. while down a player, holding the Americans to just 3 of 9 with the man advantage.

``That was the game right there,'' said U.S. coach Guy Baker, whose team went unbeaten through the Holiday Cup en route to the title last year. ``You have to give Canada credit, but we really beat ourselves.''

Especially in the fourth period, when the U.S. had three power-play chances and came up with just one scoring threat, a shot that went off the crossbar.

Otherwise, the Canadians, who never trailed, swarmed the U.S. and never really gave the Americans much of a chance.

--Italy 11, Netherlands 5: Giusy Malato scored three goals and Martina Miceli, Gabriella Sciolti and Tania DiMario added two goals each as the defending world champions routed the Dutch in a penalty-filled game in the opener Wednesday.