Four teams remain in the women’s water polo tournament following an entertaining day of quarterfinal matches. The United States, Spain, Hungary, and Greece made it through to the semifinal.
The #3 United States had the most dominant match of any team. They rocketed to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter against #14 Japan and never looked back. The final score finished at 26-7. The Americans look like they have potential to defend their 2024 World Championships gold medal. California native Anna Pearson earned player of the match title by scoring five goals.
While the U.S. breezed through their quarterfinal match, Spain and Greece fought hard against tougher competition. The most anticipated match of the day was without a doubt #1 Spain vs #2 Netherlands. The match did not disappoint, ending regular time in an 11-11 draw. This resulted in penalty shootouts, which Spain got the best of. After two successful shooting rounds of shooting by the Dutch, they finished and Ariadna Ruiz scored the winning shot. The final score stood at 15-13, and the defending Olympic champions are on to the semifinal.
Water polo fans enjoyed a second evenly-matched nailbiter in #5 Greece vs #6 Australia. Both teams played exceptional defense, nobody more so than Greek goalkeeper Gabriel Palm. Australia only scored seven goals, one less than Greece’s eight. The 2025 World Cup champions, Greece will continue their successful year for at least one more round of play.
Finally, #4 Hungary faced off against #7 Italy. Like Greece and Australia, this game was a low-scoring one. Unlike some of the two nailbiter games, though, Hungary built up a lead through the middle and never looked back. Hungary is on to the semifinals following a 12-9 lead.
Semifinal Match-Ups
- #3 United States vs #5 Greece
- #1 Spain vs #4 Hungary
All four of these countries have experienced a lot of success in the last 18 months, so this final four does not come as a surprise. All of the countries, except for Greece, were also the winners in their respective groups. As the Olympic gold medalists with a #1 World Aquatics ranking, Spain is a small favorite over Hungary. The United States and Greece should be a very good match. Greece has made it through a lot of hard-fought battles, while the U.S. will face its toughest competition yet since day 1 of the tournament (against Netherlands) in Greece.
Other Classification Results
- #9-12 semifinals: China 18 – France 6, New Zealand 20 – Great Britain 12
- #13 Croatia, #14 Argentina following a 16-14 Croatia win
- #15 South Africa, #16 Singapore as South Africa downed the host nation 8-4
Unfortunately for the current US squad, Greece’s current squad is out of its league. Adam Krikorian’s players today are a lot less talented and experienced than previous US teams and actually looked and played the semi like the (very obvious) weaker team. The final score 10-14 speaks volumes. Greece hasn’t beaten the US for the past 27 years (!) and today they managed to do it after nine consecutive loses. And they didn’t just win, they dominated. I’m afraid that the future of the United States women’s water polo program will be kind of bleak because the superior talent of previous players just not exist anymore. Players from schools and colleges won’t cut it anymore. Almost all of the players… Read more »
I disagree. The US had 7 first time senior team members. They new players are young and very talented. The rest of the world has just caught up. They were not dominated by Greece. It was tied until about 4 minutes left in the game. Our young team has three years to get better with more international experience. The biggest issue is the officiating in the U.S. We call a completely different game than they do internationally. Greece played us very heavy on defense which isn’t allowed here. The officiating should change at least at the college level to match international play.
Unfortunately for the current US squad, Greece’s current squad is out of its league. Adam Krikorian’s players today are a lot less talented and experienced than previous US teams and actually looked and played the semi like the (very obvious) weaker team. The final score 10-14 speaks volumes. Greece hasn’t beaten the US for the past 27 years (!) and today they managed to do it after nine consecutive loses. And they didn’t just win, they dominated. I’m afraid that the future of the United States women’s water polo program will be kind of bleak because the superior talent of previous players just not exist anymore. Players from schools and colleges won’t cut it anymore. Almost all of the players… Read more »