2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- Schedule & Results
After beating Spain 11 to 4 in their opening Group B match in Rio, the U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team did away with their second opponents in similar fashion, taking down China 12 to 2 to move to 2-0 in pool play.
The Americans opened the score with a center shot from Maggie Steffens within the first 30 seconds of play. Maddie Musselman and Makenzie Fischer each added one with about 4 minutes left in the first quarter, and just like that the U.S. led 3-0. China scored on a power play with 2:58 left to play in the quarter but Steffens added another goal with 1:06 on the clock and the score was 4-1 heading into the second period.
Steffens, Musselman, and Kaleigh Gilchrist each scored in the second period while the U.S. held China scoreless. At the halftime break the score was 7-1 in favor of the Americans.
China opened the third quarter with a goal from Guannan Niu on a power play with 6:16 left on the clock. The U.S. struck three more times in the next 2 minutes, with Steffens, Kami Craig, and Gilchrist each getting one past Chinese goalkeeper Jun Yang. Zihan Zhao scored for China with 2:34 left in the quarter to make it 10-3 for the U.S. heading into the final quarter.
China’s Xinyan Wang scored the first goal in the fourth quarter, but Musselman answered 20 seconds later with the U.S.’s 11th goal. Musselman took advantage of a power play to put the last goal in the net with :13 left on the clock and the final score stood at 12-4 to the U.S.
Scoring – Scoresheet
USA 12 (4, 3, 3, 2) M. Steffens 4, M. Musselman 4, K. Gilchrist 2, K. Craig 1, M. Fischer 1
CHN 4 (1, 0, 2, 1) Zhao 1, Mei 1, Niu 1, Wang 1
Saves – USA – A. Johnson – 8 S. Hill 3 – CHN – Yang 4
6×5 – USA – 2/6 – CHN – 2/10
Penalties – USA – 0/0 – CHN – 1/1
Team USA will meet Hungary in their final match in pool play on Saturday at 12pm ET.
Standings
Group A
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | MATCHES PLAYED | WON | TIED | LOST | GOALS FOR | GOALS AGAINST | DIFF |
| 1 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 7 |
| 2 | Australia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 12 | 9 |
| 3 | Russia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 21 | -3 |
| 3 | Brazil | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 23 | -13 |
Group B
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | MATCHES PLAYED | WON | TIED | LOST | GOALS FOR | GOALS AGAINST | DIFF |
| 1 | United States | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 8 | 15 |
| 2 | Spain | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 21 | -6 |
| 3 | Hungary | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 22 | 1 |
| 4 | China | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 25 | -10 |