USA Women Beat Russians in Final Preliminary Game

(Photo: Jeff Cable, Jeff Cable’s Photography Blog)

Friday, July 30, 2021, the USA Women’s Water Polo Team took on their final foe in the preliminary round to determine the teams that would move on to the quarter finals at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. The Americans were coming off a surprising loss to the Hungarians two days before, while the Russians had not played since July 26, when they tied the Hungarians.

The American women’s team had been through losses before and their veteran status as a team together, many of them having been playing together since the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio where the team won the gold medal, was something that would undoubtedly keep them striving to win.

“I see a lot of potential for this team and all sorts of greatness. We’re going to take it game by game and we’re going to get better with every game. We just showed some resilience in this game that we can get a loss and come back stronger and we’re going to keep carrying that forward,” goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson said after their 18-5 win over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

Team USA came out fast putting up five goals in the first quarter and overall frustrating the Russian goalkeeper, Evgeniia Golovina, as they found way after way to put the ball behind her. In many ways, the team in front of her didn’t help her out much, unlike those in front of Johnson.

“I see my teammates funneling the ball to me and it’s just like we practice and it’s just like every game. There’s nothing new here, nothing new in this game that we haven’t seen, which is really good,” said Johnson.

In some ways it looked like to the Russians that a lot of the game was new or that they had perhaps not seen such a tight knit team as the Americans or play at their level. This was somewhat surprising considering that they had tied the Hungarians, the very team that handed USA their only loss in the preliminary round.

While the Americans scored 14 of their 18 goals at even strength, the Russians only managed one. The remainder of their five goals were while on the extra player.

For Team USA, Maggie Steffens and Stephania Haralabidis each contributed four goals to the win, while Paige Hauschild notched three herself. All but two of the players on the American team had at least one goal.

With their win on Friday, the women finished their competition in the preliminary round, though they will not know who their opponent will be in the quarter finals until the remainder of the teams finish their games on Sunday, August 1.

The quarter finals will take place on August 2, with the Group A and Group B teams playing in the following format:

• First place team in Group A plays last place team in Group B
• Third place team in Group A plays second place team in Group B
• Second place team in Group A plays third place team in Group B
• Fourth place team in Group A plays first place team in Group B

For a couple of the players, such as Steffens, they are hoping to garner their third gold in as many Olympics, having taken the gold medal in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016.

Note: If you love the photo, be sure to check out more by visiting Jeff Cable’s Photography Blog here.