Danville Water Polo Player Goes For Gold In Tokyo

DANVILLE, CA —California athletes will play for gold Saturday in Olympic water polo after winning the semifinals match. The U.S. women's water polo team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee team and will vie for gold against Spain.

California is well-represented on the U.S. women's water polo team: Northern California players Melissa Seidemann of Walnut Creek and Maggie Steffens of Danville feature on the team. Paige Hauschild of Santa Barbara, Jamie Neuschul of Isla Vista, and Amanda Longan of Moorpark make up the Santa Barbara and Ventura County players. Further south, Sisters Aria and Makenzie Fischer, both of Laguna Beach join four other Orange County players: Maddie Musselman of Newport Beach, Alys Williams of Huntington Beach, Rachel Fattal of Seal Beach, and Kaleigh Gilchrist of Newport Beach.

In the semifinal match, Aria Fischer of Laguna Beach gave the U.S. the lead for good with her score at the five-minute, five-second marker. Fischer broke the 11-11 tie in the high-scoring game. Her older sister, Makenzie Fischer, scored twice in the game.

Maddie Musselman of Newport Beach scored four of her five goals in the second half as the United States women's water polo team overcame three three-goal deficits to defeat the Russian Olympic Committee, 15- 11, Thursday to reach the gold-medal game.

Defender Alys Williams of Huntington Beach increased the U.S. lead to 13-11 by putting her only shot past Russian goalkeeper Evgeniia Golovina with 3:37 left. Musselman scored the final two goals, with 2:45 and 1:50 left, the second on the power play.

The U.S. was outscored 3-2 in the first period and trailed 5-2, 6-3 and 7-4 in the second quarter. Musselman scored her first goal on her fourth shot with 39 seconds before halftime. Melissa Seidemann of Walnut Creek scored for the U.S. on a long shot with one second left in the first half, cutting the deficit to 7-6.

In the third period, Musselman's goal with 5:19 left gave the U.S. its first lead, 9-8. Musselman scored a power-play goal with 1:01 left in the third period, putting the U.S. ahead 11-9.

The Russian Olympic Committee re-tied the score 11-11 on power-play goals by Elvina Karimova with 6:29 left in the fourth period and Maria Bersneva 59 seconds later.

Makenzie Fischer, the older sister of Aria Fisher, scored twice and Rachel Fattal of Seal Beach once as the U.S. won for the fifth time in six games in the Tokyo Olympics.

Musselman is a Corona del Mar High School alumna who has one season of eligibility remaining at UCLA. Her father, Jeff pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1986-1989 and New York Mets from 1989-1990.

U.S. attacker Kaleigh Gilchrist of Newport Beach was also a member of USC's 2013 NCAA championship team.

All Russian athletes at the Tokyo Games are competing for the Russian Olympic Committee.

A ruling last year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Russia's flag, anthem and team name as punishment for an extensive doping program and cover-ups.

The United States is seeking to become the first team to win three consecutive gold medals in women's water polo, an Olympic sport since 2000. The U.S. will face Spain, an 8-6 winner over Hungary in the other semifinal, in Saturday's gold-medal game, set to begin at 12:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

NBC will stream the game live online at stream.nbcolympics.com/water-polo-womens- gold-medal-game

Spain's roster includes Anni Espar, who scored the game-winning goal for USC in third sudden-death period in the 2013 NCAA championship game.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.