Courtesy: USA Water Polo
Irvine, CA – July 1, 2021 – With less than a month to go before the start of competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the USA Women’s National Team will have one more test before they look to claim a third straight Olympic crown. The top-rated women’s water polo team in the world welcomes Russia for a three-game series with the first two LIVE on ESPNU and streaming on the ESPN app starting July 3. Fresh off their seventh straight FINA World League Super Final crown, Team USA will compete in their first competition since announcing the 13 athletes nominated to the U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team.
Action begins on Saturday, July 3 at 8pm et/5pm pt at the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine, California and continues in the same venue on Monday, July 5 at 6pm et/3pm pt. Tickets for the two matches in Irvine are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.
The two teams will wrap up play in a closed exhibition on July 6 at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, CA at 2pm pt. No public tickets will be made available for this match as spectators will consist of athlete family and friends alongside training base staff.
Veterans and two-time Olympic champions Maggie Steffens and Melissa Seidemann lead Team USA into action ahead of their third appearance at the Olympic Games. The fellow Stanford graduates are joined by goalkeeping superstar Ashleigh Johnson and former World Championship MVPs Maddie Musselman and Rachel Fattal. Fellow Rio champions Kaleigh Gilchrist, Makenzie Fischer and Aria Fischer round out the returners competing. Five first-time Olympic nominees will also cap up for Team USA including Alys Williams, Paige Hauschild, Jamie Neushul, Stephania Haralabidis and Amanda Longan. The USA Women have won every major international championship since 2014. Check out the complete Olympic Team nominee announcement by clicking here.
Four-time Olympic medalist and Hall of Famer Brenda Villa joins veteran USA Water Polo and collegiate coach John Abdou as game analysts during the series. Greg Mescall will handle play-by-play on both televised matches.
Live stats of all three matches will be available at TheFOSH.net. Follow @USAWP on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates throughout the series. For more information on the USA Water Polo Women’s National Team, including roster and schedule click here.
