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By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor.
BUDAPEST, Hungary. Getting out in front early against four previous opponents, the U.S. Women’s Water Polo Team was yet to have a signature win in the 2017 FINA World Championships because they had rarely been tested.
That all changed in a semifinal match Wednesday night at Alfred Hajos Pool. Facing a Russian team that stunned medal contenders Holland and Italy the past two matches, the Americans were down 2-0 early in the match on goals by Anastasia Simanovich and Ekaterina Prokofyeva before rallying for an impressive 14-9 win and a date Friday evening in the finals against Spain, a 12-9 winner over Canada in the other semifinal.
As Team USA head coach Adam Krikorian knows, on any given day anyone can be beat—even a United States team that hasn’t lost a major championship since placing fifth at the 2013 FINA World Championships.
“We’re a confident group but we talk about being humble enough to prepare and confident enough to perform,” he said immediately following the match. “We go into every game thinking there’s a chance we could lose.”
“That keeps the edge for us, because we’ve been in a lot of different situations,” he added. “Being down by two goals… perhaps everyone freaks out because the Americans are never supposed to be down, but it’s not a surprise for us.”
In the opening moments she and her teammates seemed out of sync, admitted Maddie Musselman, Team USA’s talented young attacker.
“Energy was a huge part of our game today,” she said. “Our defense was slow and in the beginning we didn’t come out with energy.”
But if there’s one thing you can count on from Team USA, it’s that they are not easily flustered. Musselman opened her team’s scoring with a strongside blast past Russia goalie Anna Karnaukh halfway through the first, a sign of good things to come for her and her teammates.
Rain didn’t dampen American fans’ spirits. Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo
Rachel Fattal, who would be the best player on any other team that didn’t have Maggie Steffens, picked Wednesday night to responded when her team needed her most. At the 3:35 mark of the first she made the Russians pay with a powerplay score. After Prokofyeva and Maria Bourisova put Russia again up by two, she followed a Steffens’ scoring strike with two of her own: a weakside goal with 48 seconds remaining in the period, and then a cross-cage missile forty seconds later that Karnaukh had no chance on.
Just like that, the Americans were up 5-4. And the offensive explosion was just beginning. Team USA hit on six of the second period’s seven goals, part of a 10-1 run by the U.S. that put them up 11-5 after two and squelched any upset dreams of an opportunistic Russian squad.
Fattal, who led all scorers with five goals, said that defending the Russian counter-attack was the difference-maker on a chilly, rainy evening in Budapest.
“In the second half we started playing better defense to stop their offense and limit their counter,” she said. “They’re a very fast team and a good team and for us that was one of our keys.”
Explaining that they were well-prepared for the Russian counterattack, Fattal said that success is a matter of time, patience and confidence in teammates who have weathered numerous challenges.
“A lot of us have been playing together for a long time, even the new girls, and our team is starting to flow together really well,” she said. “We have confidence that we’re each going to play our roles to the best of our abilities—and that’s what happens when we do.”
Which is win.
The U.S. has now progressed farther than any women’s team has at FINA Worlds after winning Olympic gold, and is on the cusp of a second straight FINA World Championship, an appropriate bookend to back-to-back Olympic titles earned in 2012 and 2016.
Yet their head coach knows as well as anyone how easily a determined opponent, tough weather conditions and an inexplicable lack of energy can doom even the most capable of teams.
“We have a lot of respect for every opponent here, so when we’re losing, we’re not shocked,” Krikorian said. “We understand how difficult it is to get a win in this tournament against quality teams.”
Given the significance of what his team is looking to accomplish, perhaps there’s no more appropriate venue than Alfred Hajos Pool. Site of the 1958, 2006 and 2010 European Aquatics Championships, as well as the 2006 FINA Men’s Water Polo World Cup, Krikorian called it the “Wimbledon” of water polo.
He could not help but be moved by the passionate fan base that has come out day after day to cheer their beloved Maygars and applaud the best water polo athletes the world has to offer.
“I was watching the Hungary game today, and I almost had tears in my eyes.” Krikorian said. “Watching Hungary play in a [classification match with Greece] just to get into the fifth-place game—this place was packed. And loud.”
“The reason why it’s that way is because the people here love this sport.”
Musselman, who despite her relatively young age of 19 already possesses an Olympic gold medal and may soon own FINA gold, agreed with her coach about the devoted Hungarian fans.
“This is what our sport’s all about—to have that crowd and that atmosphere.”
Perhaps Team USA will experience all that and more at Friday’s championship match.
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How is it that our women are so god but our men are found wanting?
What do the best water polo nations do that we don’t?
Hi Bill: thanks for this comment. There’s a lot I could say—but I’ll let an expert say it. Later today (or thereabouts – I’m in Budapest so “today” is entirely relative!) I’ll post an excerpted interview with Dante Dettamanti. “Coach D” is one of the foremost coaches in the history of NCAA men’s water polo – and he has A LOT to say about what’s lacking with our men’s program.
Stay tuned!
M. Randazzo