Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Long Beach, CA – June 25 – Championship Day of the 2023 World Aquatics Women’s World Cup takes place Sunday, June 25 at Long Beach City College!
Gold Medal Match: United States 12, Netherlands 11
Team USA took down The Netherlands in a close contest to claim the gold medal at the 2023 World Aquatics Women’s World Cup. Team captain Maggie Steffens recorded a hat trick and was named Player of the Game as Amanda Longan notched fifteen saves on her way to winning Best Goalkeeper. Head coach Adam Krikorian earned Best Coach after leading Team USA to gold.
This one started with Steffens going bar down for the first goal of the game and she was just getting warmed up. Steffens rocketed in her second score to go up two before Lieke Rogge answered with The Netherlands’ first goal. With just under three minutes to play in the opening quarter, Jovana Sekulic scored inside for the Americans and then Lieke Rogge found the back of the net once again for the Dutch. Emily Ausmus and Kaleigh Gilchrist converted on player advantages to close the first quarter up 5-2.
Steffens got Team USA off on the right foot again, converting on a 6-on-5 to open the second period. From there, The Netherlands found their third via Maartje Keuning before Jewel Roemer fired one in on another player advantage to push the Unites States’ lead to 7-3 at halftime.
Maddie Musselman found the back of the cage on a player advantage to begin the third and then Kitty Joustra and Brigitte Sleeking responded with a pair of goals for The Netherlands. Midway through the quarter, Gilchrist lofted in a beautiful lob shot from the outside for her second. After a couple missed shots by the Americans, Simone Van De Kraats scored on a counterattack for the Dutch and then found another to cut the deficit to two. With twenty seconds remaining in the period, Jenna Flynn put one home to give Team USA a three goal edge after three, 10-7.
In the final frame, Van De Kraats drilled a penalty shot for The Netherlands’ eighth of the game. A player advantage followed for the United States and Musselman took advantage before Van De Kraats buried another penalty attempt. Minutes later, Keuning scored back-to-back goals to level the score at 11-11 with 1:54 to play. Team USA came out of a timeout to earn a 6-on-5 and Rachel Fattal came up clutch with her first goal of the night. The Netherlands had a shot with seconds left to tie the game but Amanda Longan denied Van De Kraats at the horn to win the gold medal, 12-11.
Bronze Medal Match: Spain 18, Hungary 15
Spain defeated Hungary in a high-scoring affair and earned the Bronze Medal at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup in Long Beach. Anni Espar Llaquet recorded five goals, four assists, and four steals while Martina Terre had six saves and two steals in the cage for the Spanish.
5th-6th Place Match: Greece 10, Italy 9
Greece bested Italy to finish in 5th Place at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup. The Greeks were led by four goals from Eleni Xenaki as goalkeeper Ioanna Stamatopoulou notched sixteen saves in net.
7th-8th Place Match: Israel 12, New Zealand 11
Israel held on to beat New Zealand and claim 7th Place at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup in Long Beach. Alma Yaacobi scored five goals to lead the offensive attack while Ayelet Peres recorded eight saves and three steals in the cage for the Israelis.