NANTERRE, France — After three straight Olympic gold medals, perhaps the most impressive winning streak of any sporting dynasty, the U.S. women’s water polo team faces something even more difficult: winning bronze.
The semifinal defeat against Australia in the penalty shootout on Thursday (14:13) presented the Americans with a challenge that this group rarely has to face. After a defeat, they have to regroup.
“I always find it super difficult to get a bronze medal because you don’t come for the bronze medal,” said captain and attacker Maggie Steffens. “You come for the gold.”
For most of her career, she has accomplished that. Steffens, 31, is the only player still in the mix from the teams that played in London, Rio and Tokyo. This team is younger and less experienced than the previous three and, as coach Adam Krikorian has admitted, not as talented as the earlier giants. It has tried to emphasize that it is not a continuation of what came before. It wanted to honor the program’s legacy without letting expectations weigh it down. The players are a new group with new goals. They weren’t looking to continue a winning streak. “This team just wanted to get its first win,” Krikorian said.
They also face challenges far more serious than those they face in the pool. Steffens is mourning the death of her husband’s sister, Lulu Conner, who died of what Steffens called a “medical emergency” after a trip to Paris for the Olympics. Forward Maddie Musselman is supporting her husband, former UCLA water polo player Patrick Woepse, as he undergoes treatment for terminal lung cancer.
“Unfortunately, we have had to endure a lot of misfortune outside of water polo,” said Steffens. “We have been through a lot and have supported each other tremendously. Now we have another chance to do so.”
It was not entirely clear to everyone how this could be accomplished.
“I’ll let you know when I know,” defense attorney Jordan Raney said.
Once the shock wears off — Steffens said they’ll give themselves the rest of the night to stew — they’ll start analyzing what went wrong Thursday. Aside from a group-stage loss to Spain, this team has mostly produced decisive performances when it needed them. In the semifinals, however, the Americans led 6-2 at halftime but couldn’t keep up defensively. And the offense that was often so devastating played tight, a state of affairs Krikorian blamed on nerves.
“I feel like our offense was a little stagnant,” said forward Jewel Roemer. “And we didn’t really capitalize on a lot of our six-on-five opportunities that we take advantage of in most other games.”
Australia tied the game at 8-8 with 2:54 left in the fourth period, and goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson managed to score the equalizer as the clock ran out. The Australians and Americans traded successful penalty kicks until, on the USA’s sixth attempt, Australian goalkeeper Gabriella Palm got a hand on Musselman’s shot. The Australians went berserk. The Americans seemed to not know what to do.
“This is the first time in a long time that we have this feeling,” said Krikorian. He added: “This is the reality of life. You don’t get to the top of the podium every time. We made it look easy sometimes, but it was never easy.”
This Olympic push was one of the most difficult. After the grueling COVID-19 Tokyo Olympics, many of the veterans considered retiring; legendary centers Aria Fischer and Melissa Seidemann did so, leaving the team without much experience in the midfield. A compressed three-year cycle combined with a young team meant learning had to happen much faster.
Now they will try to learn how to recover from defeat and finish the Olympics with a win – and bronze – against the Netherlands on Sunday.
“We’ve always talked about wanting to have the finished product on August 10,” Steffens said. “Unfortunately, that’s what you want in the gold medal game. But now we get another opportunity to show the world who we are.”
