Athens, Greece - June 19 - For the
seventh straight time and 14th time in program history, the USA Water Polo
Women's National are FINA World League Super Final champions! The latest gold
medal came with a 14-8 win over Hungary as Team USA held off a furious second
half rally by the Hungarians. Captain Maggie Steffens scored four goals and was
named player of the match. Maddie Musselman and Rachel Fattal added three goals
each to bolster the offense. Ashleigh Johnson did the job in net, turning away
five shots. Now Team USA returns home prior to Head Coach Adam Krikorian
announcing the nominations to the U.S. Olympic Team roster this Wednesday in
Los Angeles.
Team USA started off in strong
fashion as Steffens delivered the first two goals of the game followed by the
first from Musselman for a 3-0 lead. Hungary answered with two straight but
Paige Hauschild closed the scoring in the period to build a 4-2 advantage.
Hungary drew to within one midway through the second quarter at 4-3, but
Steffens and Fattal followed with goals to take a 6-3 lead into halftime.
Hungary kept battling into the second
half as they mounted a comeback. After Steffens put Team USA up 7-4 early in
the third, former Cal Bear standout Dora Antal brought Hungary to within two.
Not long after Makenzie Fischer put the United States ahead by four with under
four minutes to play in the third but Hungary rallied again scoring two
straight to close the period.
Trailing 9-7 to open the fourth,
Hungary turned to captain Rita Keszthelyi who connected for one of her two
goals on the night to make it a 9-8 game with 5:01 to play in the match. That
was apparently the wake-up call the United States needed as they responded with
authority. Five straight Team USA goals followed, started by Fattal. Makenzie
Fischer was up next with a cross-cage connect that ricocheted in off the post.
Fattal came back for another, for a 12-8 lead with 3:27 to play. Alys Williams
added a goal with a minute left in the match and then Musselman closed things
out on a goal with no time remaining to secure the 14-8 win.
Team USA went 7/12 on power plays and
1/1 on penalties while Hungary went 3/11 on power plays and did not attempt a
penalty.
Complete tourney stats are available
by clicking here, game replays and photos are available by clicking here.
Scoring - Stats
USA 14 (4, 2, 3, 5) M. Steffens 4, M.
Musselman 3, R. Fattal 3, M. Fischer 2, A. Williams 1, P. Hauschild 1
HUN 8 (2, 1, 4, 1) G. Gurisatti 2, D.
Leimeter 2, R. Keszthelyi 2, N. Rybanska 1, D. Antal 1
Saves - USA - A. Johnson 5 - HUN - A.
Magyari 6
6x5 - USA - 7/12 - HUN 3/11
Penalties - USA - 1/1 - HUN - 0/0
Quotes
"Our opponent was great and we
expected a tough battle. It was a tough physical battle, (they are) well
coached...luckily we pulled away in the fourth but both teams were really
tired. (Going forward) We can improve everything, we look forward to getting back
to training and spending time dissecting the film and making some corrections
before we get to Tokyo." - Adam Krikorian, USA Head Coach
Greg Mescall
Director of Communications, USA Water
Polo
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