The U.S. Women’s Water Polo Finish Just Off The Podium After A Bronze Medal Loss To The Netherlands

NANTERRE, France — Going into the bronze medal match of women’s water polo, head coach Adam Krikorian drilled one thing into the U.S. women before their game against the Netherlands: attack! 

The Americans were forced to fight for third — missing their chance at a fourth straight Olympic gold medal — after Australia took the W two days earlier in a tight game that went down to shoot-outs, winning, 14-13. 

With a proven defense thanks to two-time world championships’ best goalkeeper, Ashleigh Johnson, Krikorian was working on getting the team — which included seven first-time Olympians — to be more aggressive.  

A minute into the game they were off to a good start with the first goal by three-time Olympian Rachel Fattal, her eighth goal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the perfect way to set the tone against the European champions whose only medal in water polo was a gold at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. 

By the end of the first quarter, the U.S. was ahead 3-2, a credit to first-timer Ryann Neushul —who whizzed the ball past four defenders to make it into the back of the net — and Maddie Musselman, looking for redemption after missing a shot at goal in the shootout against Australia.

The packed La Defense Arena was filled with spectators in a sea of orange mixed with red, white, and blue, as enthusiastic about the game as the women in the water.

The U. S. captain Maggie Steffens said the team has “never ever, ever had 15-plus thousand fans watching live, and I know millions more at home.”  The support, which was helped by rapper Flavor Flav — who promised to sponsor the team for the next five years and was in attendance in Paris to watch, along with the Food Network’s Guy Fieri — gave the sport some much-needed attention.

“We’re super grateful that we've been a part of a movement to help grow women's sports and hopefully grow water polo,” said Steffens.

The bronze medal appeared to be headed Stateside, which would be another in a long line of podium finishes — the U.S. women have medaled at every Olympics since the sport was introduced at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000. Doubling the Netherland’s score in the third quarter with a hefty lead, 8-4, the fourth quarter started 9-6 in the U.S.’ favor.

But the fourth quarter did not go their way.

A frantic finish saw the Netherlands coach earning a yellow card for acting how the crowd was feeling — anything but cool, calm and collected; a penalty against Johnson that resulted in a goal and a Dutch team — who came into the game as the highest scoring team with 88 goals — refusing to give up, tying it 10-10 with less than two minutes on the clock.

With nine seconds to go, looking like it was going to go down to a shootout, the Dutch coach called a timeout. Seven seconds later, a last-second goal by the Netherlands left the U.S. behind, 10-11, ultimately surrendering the bronze after a four-goal lead.  

Jenna Flynn, Neushul and Musselman all had two goals each to lead the U.S.

“It’s been really hard, but we’re lucky to have family. Our team is family and we win together, lose together,” Steffens said, unable to hold back tears while talking after the game. “Unfortunately, this is new territory for me. We fell short and so we need to be better next time.”

For their coach — who has been in charge since 2009 and has won 27 major tournaments in his role — he was going to need more than the 20 seconds he took to collect his thoughts before getting emotional.

“For some of them, they’ve had so much success,” Krikorian shared, “if we’re going to sit here and we’re going to embrace all the positives and all the good things, and all the attention, and all the wins and all the accolades, we have got to stand up tall and embrace the pain.”

“This is sports, this is what makes sports so appealing – especially team sports. So, it's okay to feel the pain, and it's okay to sit in it a bit, but no, it doesn't define us and who we are as people.”

The Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 is too far out for the team to think about right now, but Musselman did share, “Obviously, it’s exciting to be hosting it. But right now, I think it’s going to take a little bit more reflection before I think about what that looks like.”

But Krikorian promises this won’t be the last time you see this team together as they are already looking forward to three-time Olympian, Kaleigh Gilchrist’s wedding in a couple of weeks.

“These women are young,” he said. “I’m the old guy who doesn’t have much more to go. So, they’ve got their whole lives to live. They’re going to be fine.”

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.