2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- Water Polo: July 27 – August 11, 2024
- Paris Aquatic Centre/La Défense Arena — Paris, France
- Meet Central
- Full Water Polo Match Schedule
The US women started off strong in their quest for a 4-peat in water polo, winning their first game of the 2024 Olympic against Greece. Defending Olympic silver medalists Spain also won their first game of the tournament on the first day of water polo action.
Group A, Match 1: Netherlands 10, Hungary 8
In the first match of the day, the Netherlands were off to a hot start. Simone van de Kraats obtained the ball off of the sprint and drew a foul against Rebecca Parkes, giving her a penalty shot for the early 1-0 lead. The Netherlands then added 3 more goals throughout the period, gaining an early 4-2 advantage. No goals were scored through the first 5 minutes of the 2nd period until Kamilla Farago hit a goal from the right post, bringing Hungary within 1 point of the Netherlands.
With the score 4-3 out of the half, Hungary’s Vanda Valyi took advantage of a field exclusion on Lola Moolhuijzen, scoring to tie the score less than 2 minutes into the 3rd period. Van de Kraats then returned the favor, scoring again to give the Netherlands the 5-4 advantage. After exchanging scores a few more times during the half, the two teams ended the third period tied 6-6. The Netherlands extended that to a 8-6 lead during the early minutes of the 4th period, but Hungary did not shy away from the competition, clawing back to a 8-8 tie with 4:32 left to play. With less than a minute left to play, Hungary’s Farago was called for an exclusion, putting the Netherlands into a critical extra player situation. Moolhuijzen took full advantage of the situation, scoring only 17 seconds later, giving the Netherlands a 9-8 lead with 40 seconds left. Bente Rogge added another Netherlands goal as time expired to lead the team to a 10-8 win.
Group B, Match 2: USA 15, Greece 6
The reigning Olympic Champs wasted no time in establishing themselves as the team to beat with Rachel Fattal getting the ball for the American women off of the sprint. Fattal soon had the first point of the game, taking advantage of an exclusion on Greece’s Margarita Plevritou to lead a 1-0 score for the Americans. The Americans then went into offensive mode, with Maggie Steffens and Jenna Flynn scoring two additional goals off of exclusions, bringing the Americans to a 3-0 lead through the end of the first period. The offensive continued into the first 6 minutes of the 2nd period, with the US racking up a 7-0 score. At 2:25 left in the period, Eleftheria Pleveritou found the net with the US’ Jordan Raney out on an exclusion, bringing the score up to 7-1. A short exchange of goals followed, with the period ending with a 2-9 score.
After halftime, Steffens got the American women rolling once again with a penalty shot, producing a 10-2 lead with Tara Prentice quickly adding to the toll to make the score 11-2. Greece fired back with 2 more goals in the half, however the US ended the period with a 12-4 lead over the Greeks. Early in the 4th period, Jewel Roemer extended the US lead off of a steal from Maddie Musselman, bringing the score to 13-4. Shortly after, the US subbed in back-up goalkeeper Amanda Longan, with Greece taking advantage of the substitution for another goal. It would not be enough for the Greeks though as the US racked up 2 more points to end the game with a 15-6 victory.
In their victory, the US went 7/8 on power plays and 2/3 on penalties. Flynn led the game with 4 goals for the Americans, while starting goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson recorded 10 saves.
Group B, Match 3: Spain 15, France 6
Despite a tight match after the half, Spain managed to pull-away from France in the third game of the day, giving the defending Olympic silver medalists their first win of the tournament. Spain had the early advantage in the game with Anni Espar Llaquet claiming the ball off of the sprint, eventually getting the ball to Paula Crespi Barriga for the first goal of the game, giving Spain a 1-0 lead. Llaquet then stole the ball and passed to Elena Ruiz Barril for the second goal of the game. France’s Ema Vernoux fired back after an exclusion on Nona Perez Vivas, taking it to a 2-1 score. The teams exchanged a few more goals to end the 1st quarter with Spain leading 6-3. A slow 2nd quarter only saw a few goals scored, with Barril wrapping up the quarter in a penalty shot goal to bring the score to 9-4 at the half.
Coming out of halftime, the action remained relatively mild as there were no goals scored until 3 minutes into the 3rd period. With 5:34 left in the quarter, Isabel Poralkova Coello ended the goal drought, taking advantage of a turnover foul on France’s Orsolya Hertzka, leading to an action shot goal from over 5’ outside of the net, bringing the score to 10-4. Though France tried to respond, Spain racked up 2 more goals in the half to pull to a 12-5 lead going into the final period. Unlike the 3rd period, the goals came early in the 4th period as Pili Pena scored for Spain less than 30 seconds into the period. Spain then subbed in goalkeeper Laura Ester Ramos for starting goalkeeper Martina Terre, which France’s Ema Vernoux took advantage of with a goal. However, the Spanish continued to bombard the French goal, firing off 2 more goals before the end of the game to win 15-6.
Group A, Match 4: Australia 7, China 5
Similar to the first match of the day, this match proved to be extremely close with scores being exchanged on either side. Despite China’s Wang Huan winning the possession off of the sprint, a series of fouls led to Australia quickly gaining possession with Alice Williams scoring the first goal of the game to give the Aussies a 1-0 lead. After a penalty on Nong Sanfeng, Australia’s Abby Andrews scored the team’s second goal of the day, leading a 2-0 score. Sanfeng fired back soon afterwards with a goal off of an exclusion on Elle Armit, bringing the game to a 2-1 score. Zhang Jing tied the game up for China with 19 seconds left in the first period, but Andrews responded with a score of her own to give the Aussies a 3-2 lead after the period. Early in the 2nd period, Andrews scored again, bringing the score to 4-2 for Australia. It took another 3 minutes for China to respond as Chen Xiao took advantage of an exclusion on Sienna Green for the goal. With the score 4-3 going into the final seconds of the half, Zie Arancini punched another goal in for Australia.
The third period was highly defensive, with the teams exchanging fouls and shots. However, neither team managed to find the net, keeping the score at 5-3 into the final period. Early in the 4th period, China attempted to mount a comeback with Huan taking advantage of an exclusion on Williams, scoring the first goal of the half to bring the team within 1 point of the Aussies. Huan scored again a few seconds later, tying the game at 5-5. However, Australia held off the surge of Chinese momentum with Williams and Bronte Halligan each scoring goals within the closing minutes of the game to give Australia a 7-5 victory.
