WOMENS WATER POLO AT THE PAN AM GAMES#

The U.S. Women’s Water Polo Team has not only won everything a team could ever want, but it has done so repeatedly over the past 11 years: three Olympic gold medals, four world championship titles, three world cups and more. While the dream never changes, the faces do.

Head Coach Adam Krikorian, in his 15th year on the job, is once again reconfiguring the roster and blending some of the game’s greats with rising stars hungry to win their first Pan American Games and Olympic Games medals.

If you know water polo, then you know Maggie Steffens, Ashleigh Johnson, Rachel Fattal, Maddie Musselman, Kaleigh Gilchrist and Amanda Longan have been the nucleus of the U.S. juggernaut for years. Steffens came first, in late 2009, and they’re all returning from Olympic victory during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Along with veteran Jordan Raney, they plan to rejuvenate their attack with some exceptional young talent.

Center Tara Prentice headlines a new generation of US talent, along with Stanford standouts Ryann Neushul, Jewel Roemer, Jenna Flynn and Ella Woodhead. At 17, Emily Ausmus is already rising quickly, flanked by fellow USC Trojans Bayley Weber and Denise Mammolito. Centers Ava Johnson and Jovana Sekulic round out the group that hopes to vie for gold at the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 and beyond. The squad is extremely difficult to make, but if history is any indication, the reward is golden.

The road to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 may be more difficult than ever for the U.S. squad. Not only are the expectations skyscraper-high, but the global competition continues to improve. Team USA knows that everyone will be trying to beat it and that’s why its players power through six hours of pool time every day.

The team is competing in the women’s water polo competition. Team USA qualifies automatically as the only representative from Zone III (USA).