Scoresheet -
Replay
Long Beach, CA - June 25 - Team USA took down The Netherlands in a close contest to claim the gold medal at the 2023 World Aquatics Women's World Cup. It's the fourth straight World Cup title for Team USA and fifth in program history. 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.
Scoring
USA 12 (5, 2, 3, 2) M. Steffens 3, K. Gilchrist 2, M. Musselman 2, R. Fattal 1, J. Sekulic 1, E. Ausmus 1, J. Roemer 1, J. Flynn
NED 11 (2, 1, 4, 4) M. Keuning 3, S. van de Kraats 3, L. Rogge 2, B. Sleeking 1, K. Joustra 1, S. van der Sloot 1
Saves - USA - A. Longan 15, NED - L. Aarts 3
Flash Quotes
Adam Krikorian (USA) – Head Coach/Coach of the Tournament
Did you do anything differently before the match started that let you jump out to such a dominant start? And what changed during the second half?
"I thought we played very well in the first half by playing very clean, intelligent, and we avoided putting ourselves in very compromising positions. Most importantly, we really executed our man-up situations that gave us a good lead early in the game. The beginning of the second half, we slipped mentally. We struggled with transition defence, defending their centres, and communicating with one another by messing up our planned match-ups. It seemed like the Netherlands were swimming downhill in the second half and there seemed to be very little we could do about it.
"However, I'm incredibly proud of the defensive stops we made towards the end of the game. We made two different seven-versus-six stops at the end of the third and fourth quarters, which is something we haven't practised as a team. In some ways like that, we were unprepared, but this team showed the will to win and is why the match ended with us on top."
Maggie Steffens (USA) – Captain/Player of the Match
What made you so successful today?
"One thing we talk about as a team is maintaining a gold standard, regardless of how the match is going. That attitude and culture is what made us so successful today, especially in the younger women who played big roles and stepped up in our win today, despite having limited experience at this stage."
What was said in the pool during the second half to halt the Netherlands' comeback?
"Today was the tale of two halves. We definitely lost some concentration going into that third quarter. In the first half, we were very focused on our team defence and as the second half began, we started to let up there. You can't do that against the Netherlands because they have some of the best players and shooters in the world who will capitalise on your mistakes as they did today. For us, it was about refocusing our mentality and effort back to our team defence during the fourth quarter and ultimately gave us the win today."
