Paris 2024
Women's water polo
Quarter-finals
USA – Hungary 5–4 (1–2, 2–0, 1–2, 1–0)
Paris 15000 viewer
US: Johnson – Romer 1, Musselman, Stevens 2, Prentice 1, Rani, Fattal 1. exchange: Flynn, Nicholl, Gilchrist, Ausmus, Sekulic. Union captain: Adam Krikorian
Hungary: MAGYARI A. – FARAGÓ K. 1, Keszthelyi 1, Garda 1, Parkes, Horváth B., Vályi V. exchange: LEIMETER 1, Rybanska, Szilágyi D., Gurisatti, Mahieu. Union captain: Sandor Shih and Attila Mihok
Exploiting the human advantage: 10/1, Figure 7/1
Double Human Advantage: 2/2, illustration –
It was mentioned: Maheu (p. 19), F. Valli (p. 27)
Do you know what the women's 800m and women's water polo have in common at the Olympics? They both had the same winner in the last three games and both were Americans. The first is Katie Ledecky, the second is the US national team – Ledecky won here in Paris for the fourth time, and the USA team has a great chance to do so as well. For the first time in a row in the elimination round, in the quarterfinals, our team tried to stop the defending champions. Based on the group matches, we couldn't chase our dreams, we had two defeats, it's true that the Americans also lost to the Spaniards, but so far we are far below their level. But during the preparations we won abroad, it wasn't until a month ago that we won 10-8 in California.
In order to win again, we had to play almost perfectly, and we met this condition when we got the ball on the first pass. However, we couldn't sell our first advantage, as Camila Farago's shot was blocked, but the Americans didn't succeed either. Co-captain Sandor Cseh shouted and hit a chair on the bench, he must have been convinced that we had the ball. We hit the post with a shot, but four minutes passed without a goal, as Rita Kesteli “cséká” also hit the crossbar. However, Garda Krisztina's shot crept in, and we broke the ice!
Alda Magyari defended on the other side, and Kesteli reached the post again, but the opponent equalized through Maggie Stevens. After a brave feint, Dora Lemaitre scored a wonderful goal with the wrong hand, but Maheu Geraldine thought a few tenths of a second too much, so the ball was taken from his hand and sent in, but the Americans did not take the ball. Penalty.
We won the first quarter, our defense closed well, our opponent was very inaccurate, and had problems with simple passes. Ashley Johnson, the world-class goalkeeper, made sure we didn't fall behind too much, and the Americans turned their fifth lead into a goal.
Unfortunately, Johnson got into it too much, and our shooters became unsure, but you can't play with a man advantage, Greta Jurisatti knew that too, but Johnson's left shot died. We got a center field goal soon after (2-3), our throw was blocked by the block, big break.
A Hungarian goal was needed, but apart from two more shots saved by Johnson, nothing else was needed at the start of the third period. In such cases, the unexpected draw helps: we managed to swim, and Farago saw well that Keszthely, who was riding next to him, equalised. Taking advantage of a double advantage, Stevens found his way into the net between the hands of USA, Garda and Magyari.
Farago also took advantage of the player advantage (the initiative of the 23-year-old winger could be highlighted several times), and then Kesteli's usual goal arrived. We worked well in defence several times, forcing the sole referee of the five-a-side games to enter a tight match, but we did not want to settle for that, only poor Garda hit the crossbar instead of entering the net.
The fact that only eight goals were scored in three quarters was reminiscent of an old water polo game, and they were evenly distributed. The next shot could have been a huge help to whoever scored, and the Americans’ situation was made easier by the man advantage. Federal captain Adam Krikorian also sensed a crucial moment was coming, so he asked for some time. We did get added when Alda Magyari made a feat, but the referees ruled against us. However, the opponent’s goal was disallowed, and instead we found ourselves with a man down, which we managed to defend again, with Rachel Fattal clumsily putting the ball over the goal.
We asked for a good round, and now we didn't get it either, Garda's shot was just a crazy axe handle. Of course, after Kesteli's attempt, the ball hit the goal post, the biggest problem was that they gave the Americans a double advantage again, thanked their fellow athletes, and then thanks to Fattal, they went from four to five.
We were a bit passive, but we just got to the middle, finally, it happened, Garda hit the crossbar… Two minutes left, we got the ball past the post, Nataša Rybanska was tackled in questionable circumstances, Sandor Cseh received a red card. Forty-nine seconds before the end, Farago shot past Camila.
The USA are in the semi-finals, and we can continue to fight for fifth place, first with Greece – it can't be said that we deserved to lose on this day. 4-5
