Six Olympians Lead U.S. Women’s Water Polo Roster for Worlds
Six Olympians are among the 15 players who were named to the U.S. women’s water polo roster for the World Aquatics Championships on Monday.
Ten members of the team were part of last year’s squad, which won gold in Budapest. The Americans have won the last four world championships and seven overall, in addition to three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Ashleigh Johnson, Maddie Musselman, Rachel Fattal, Maggie Steffens, Amanda Longan and Kaleigh Gilchrist were all part of the team that brought home gold from Tokyo. Musselman was the tournament MVP, after Steffens had been the MVP in Rio five years earlier. Johnson was named the most outstanding goalkeeper at both tournaments.
Johnson is joined by her fellow Princetonian and non-California Jovana Sekulic, born in Belgrade and raised in Southeastern Pennsylvania. High schooler Emily Ausmus is also on the team. Not included is reigning Cutino Award winner Aria Fischer of Stanford.
Only 13 athletes will be eligible for the roster in each game, which will be determined before each game. The U.S. is the three-time reigning Olympic Gold medalists. It has won seven World Championships, including the last four in a row (2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022). Water polo play begins July 15 with the medal matches on July 28.
U.S. Roster for 2023 World Aquatics World Championships
- Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC)
- Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC)
- Tara Prentice (Temecula, CA/UC Irvine/Sant Andreu)
- Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC)
- Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC/Sabadell)
- Emily Ausmus (Riverside, CA/ML King HS/SOCAL)
- Ryann Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
- Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/NYAC)
- Bayley Weber (Los Alamitos, CA/USC/NYAC)
- Jordan Raney (Manhattan Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
- Amanda Longan (Moorpark, CA/USC/NYAC)
- Jovana Sekulic (Belgrade, Serbia/Princeton/Maverick-WCAC)
- Jenna Flynn (San Jose, CA/Stanford/San Jose/Almaden Water Polo)
- Ella Woodhead (San Anselmo, CA/Stanford/SHAQ)
- Jewel Roemer (Martinez, CA/Stanford/680 Water Polo)
- Head coach: Adam Krikorian
- Assistant coaches: Molly Cahill, Chris Oeding
- Video coach: Andrew Silva
- Team manager: Ally Beck
- Sports medicine manager: Larnie Boquiren