In a Close Contest, the Olympic Gold Medalists Clinch the Water Polo World Cup Title for the Fifth Time

The US water polo women’s team has brightened again. After illuminating performance in the Olympics and obtaining the gold position successfully for the third consecutive time, they have repeated the same in this year’s water polo World Cup. The US women’s polo team has clinched the world champion title for the fifth time in the history of the tournament and added another track record to it by winning it consecutively for the fourth time. They won in the final with a close margin against the Netherlands, another tournament favorite.

It was an epic final.  The US opened the scoreboard with their captain Maggie Steffens scoring the first goal. As the game proceeded close to the first quarter the score was 5-2 in favor of US.

Formidable Show in an Epic World Cup Final

In the opening of the second quarter, Maggie Steffens again took her team to a good start by scoring the sixth goal. At half-time, the overall score was 7-3 in favor of the US. In the third quarter, the Dutch stuck three times through Kitty Joustra, Brigitte Sleeking, and Simone Van De Kraats through a counter. But in the closing time, Jenna Flynn scored to increase the overall goal deficit to three goals. Before the final round, the overall score is 10-7.

In the final round, the Dutch scored their eight-goal through Simone Van De Kraat’s penalty shot. The US responded through Musselman but only to be canceled again by Simone Van De Kraats and Keuning’s double goal in a short period. Thus equalizing 11-11 with one and half minutes of the game left to play. Both the teams came after time out and the US score their crucial goal through Rachel Fattal. In the dying minutes, the Dutch had a golden chance only to be denied by in-form US goalkeeper Amanda Longan. The US won the title 12-11 for the fourth consecutive time and the fifth time in tournament history.

A Memorable Tournament for Olympic Gold Medalists

The eighteenth edition of the tournament took place in Long Beach, California. The US team had home support to their advantage and had conquered in style the Hungarian wall in the semis. The Dutch on the other hand have overcome the Spanish armada and were looking to cease the 24 years title drought and win the title for a record ninth time. The US Team Captain Maggie Steffens won the Player of the Game award for scoring a hat trick. The goalkeeper Amanda Longan won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award with fifteen saves. Head coach Adam Krikorian won the best coach award for winning the gold.

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The team had a bright future with such a courageous display of character and team spirit. The team coach resounded on it by saying “You make decisions on what you value and for us, it was about working on what we want to do and developing our team identity around that”. 

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