The United States became the first women’s water polo team to successfully defend an Olympic gold medal on Friday after they decimated Italy 12-5 to retain their title at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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“We won and we won well, but if in the final we don’t play well again, all of this will be for nothing”, Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto said. “Hungary’s a very physical team, that’s what makes them great”.
The Americans successfully defended their Olympic title from 2012 with a 12-5 victory over Italy.
Italy coach Fabio Conti extolled the performance of Arianna Garibotti, who scored five goals and helped Italy come back from an early deficit against Russian Federation.
Krikorian said nearing the end of the game he thought about his brother who died shortly before the start of the Olympic water polo tournament.
“I’m going to milk it as long as I can, but after about two hours it’ll be back to normal, and I’ll be washing dishes”, Johnson said.
The U.S. men’s basketball team met Spain for the third consecutive Olympics Friday afternoon, albeit in the semifinals as opposed to the gold medal game where those other two meetings occurred. Conversely, Italy was up 21-19 in the second only to see the USA rally, spurred by four straight US points from Holt – three on blocks and one on a kill.
Though the USA team made quick work of Brazil in their last game, Hungary could be a stronger adversary. She scored four goals in that match as well. Maddie Musselman scored on two power plays and Kaleigh Gilchrist made it 8-4 with 3:06 left in the third.
Hungary made another charge in the fourth, but Steffens and Kiley Neushul responded with a pair of goals to help put it away. “This is what we trained for”.
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Team captain Maggie Steffens, who also helped win gold in London, said the victory proves that USA women’s water polo is going through a golden age.
Arianna Garibotti was the Italians’ top scorer with five goals.
“The final is a dream, ” Italy coach Fabio Conti said.
But Hungary came right back to take a 2-1 lead, setting up a day when the Americans would be tested just enough to keep the game interesting and the outcome in question. “I want to get a goal or a stop for her because she has our backs”.
Roberta Bianconi and Chiari Tabani added two goals apiece for Italy, which, like the US, is trying to become the first two-time victor of the Olympic tournament.
The semifinal match between Hungary and the United States was every bit as intense as the final 14-10 score suggests.
Mathewson scored the game’s first goal, 1:11 into the opening quarter, and the Americans, who haven’t lost an Olympic game since 2008, never relinquished control. Anderson led everyone with 25 points on 18 kills, five aces and two blocks. After carrying a 5-3 lead into halftime, the Americans put the game out of reach with a dominant third quarter, leading 9-4 going into the final period.
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Johnson added a brilliant save on an Italy penalty shot and the US had a 9-4 advantage heading into the fourth.
