LIMA, PERU. After a handful of matches against decidedly inferior opponents, the USA women’s water polo team had Canada, a top-ten opponent, opposite them in the gold-medal match of the 2019 Pan American Games, and two players, including starter Rachel Fattal, missing from the line-up.
For any other team, this might have spelled disaster—or at least represented a speed bump in the road to victory. But not for the American women. With Fattal and Alys Williams out with an unspecified illness, Head Coach Adam Krikorian had the luxury of calling on Paige Hauschild, one of the best young players in the world—originally swapped off the roster because of an injury from the balcony collapse in Gwuangju. South Korea.
Throw in a tremendous amount of pride and drive that has characterized this group over the last four years, and the result was a 24-4 victory over a Canadian team that had just yesterday qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
[USA Women Advance to Fifth-Straight Pan American Water Polo Final, But Canada is Big Winner]
After the satisfying win, Krikorian took a moment to sum up just how motivated his group of exceptional women have been the past few months.
“It’s been a long summer for us—this is our 22nd game—and they wanted to make sure they finished on a strong note,” he said.
Not only did the U.S. win every one of those matches, they’ve now won 59-straight. The win in today’s Pan Am final is the program’s fifth title in a row.
For a disappointed David Paradelo, head coach of the Canadian women’s team, this loss is but a bump on the path to his program’s long-time prize: a berth at the Olympic Games. It had been 16 years—since 2003—that a women’s water polo team from Canada had earned an Olympic berth. That all changed yesterday when they beat Brazil 19-5 in the Pan Am semifinal—not only advancing to today’s final but qualifying Tokyo because the Americans had previously earned a spot at the FINA World League Super Final last June in Budapest.
USA’s Adam Krikorian at FINA Worlds last month. Photo Courtesy: Orange Pictures
That doesn’t mean that his team is read for what’s to come ten months from now.
“It was satisfactory yesterday [to qualify for the Olympics]; it’s the beginning of a journey for us,” Paradelo said, “Which starts with a good slap on the face.”
A seven-goal blitz proves decisive
Maggie Steffens opened scoring for the Americans with a strike past Canadian goalie Jessica Gaudreault a mere 30 seconds into the match. When she followed two minutes later with another score, it looked like an uphill battle ahead for Paradelo’s squad.
But, when Emma Wright blasted a 5-meter penalty shot past U.S. goalie Ashleigh Johnson just ten seconds later, it appeared that Canada might keep up with an American side that had won 58-straight matches—including capturing the 2019 World Championship title—the programs third in a row—two weeks ago in Gwuangju.
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Then—as often happens to USA opponents—a scoring blitz totally overwhelmed the Canadians. First Haushchild scored with her team enjoying the man advantage. Then Melissa Seidemann—along with Steffens, a two-time Olympic gold medalist—freed herself in front of Gaudreault and drilled a shot home.
Steffens scored again with less than a minute remaining, then Stephanie Haralabidis—who torched opposing goalies for 22 goals on 27 shots here at PanAms—converted a steal and beat Gaudreault on the break just seconds after Steffens’ goal. A pause for between the first and second periods did not stem the U.S. onslaught. Mackenzie Fisher—second to Haralabidis among all goal-scorers at this tournament—buried a shot, followed by a long strike by Maddie Musselman.
Canada’s Emma Wright—here against Mexico’s Edith Flores—couldn’t hide her frustration. Photo Courtesy: Jose Tejada / Lima 2019
It took a goal by Kindred Paul to stem the American scoring streak, but the damage was done. Canada was down 7-2 and not coming back a clearly fired up opponent. Musselman scored again—she registered three goals on the day and 13 for the tournament—followed by a score by Jamie Neushul. Joelle Bekhazi beat Johnson with three minutes left, and after another score by Fischer, tempers flared from the Canadian side.
Wright, who plays college ball in America for UC Berkeley, got tangled up with Aria Fischer, Mackenzie’s sister. Perhaps out of frustration for the beating her teams was suffering—or maybe because water polo is just that physical—Wright threw a punch, was whistled for a brutality and got an early exit from the game.
A 13-3 deficit at intermission got worse after the half as the Americans dumped 10 goals on their opponent in the third period before easing off the gas in the fourth.
Where do we go from here?
Team USA goes into an extended break as the best women’s team on the planet—and after a month off, Krikorian will gather his full roster, and the battle begins for the 11 (or 12) spots that are allowed for the Olympics.
Canada will do the same—perhaps chastened that qualifying for the Olympics doesn’t mean they’re quite ready to compete with world’s best. But, they’ve got almost a full year to change that. Let’s hope they spend it wisely, because Team USA will.