Stunner: U.S. women's water polo team loses out on a medal after Netherlands defeat

Caption

Sabrina Van Der Sloot of the Netherlands celebrates scoring a goal in the women's water polo bronze medal match between USA and the Netherlands during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Netherlands defeated the three-time defending gold medalists 11-10 on Saturday. / AFP via Getty Images

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PARIS — The U.S. women’s water polo team came to Paris, hoping to bring home a historic fourth-straight gold medal. That’s a feat that no team had ever done before in Olympic water polo history.

Instead, the team will miss out on the podium entirely for the first time since women’s water polo made its Olympic debut in 2000, with an 11-10 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday, in a stunning last-second victory.

“They worked their butts off, they did everything they could,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “All you can do, is you just try to put yourself in the best position possible, and you do everything you can, and then you gotta live with the result.”

The U.S. team led at halftime, 7-3. But the Netherlands outscored the Americans 5-1 in the final quarter of the match, and Sabrina Vander Sloot scored the game-winning goal with just one second remaining on the clock.

“I thought we came out great, started the game off the way wanted to, but we didn’t finish the way we needed to,” said Maddie Musselman. “Obviously, credit to Holland for sticking it out all the way into the end. It just shows the importance of staying in the moment, and we weren’t able to capitalize on that today.”

The loss follows the team's 14-13 loss to Australia in the semifinals, which came in the sixth round of a penalty shootout. The U.S. was also grappling with personal adversity outside of the pool.

Team captain Maggie Steffens shared earlier this week that her sister-in-law, who had traveled to Paris to cheer on the team, had died in what she described as a “medical emergency.”

And Mussleman’s husband, Pat Woepse, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last year. He’d been on hand to watch her play in Paris.

“We didn’t get the gold medal, we didn’t get the bronze medal today, but I’m proud of the way that I was able to show up for him,” she said. “I hope he’s proud of the way that I played.”