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Stanford freshman Maggie Steffens scored a tournament-high 21 goals while helping Team USA wins its first ever gold medal in water polo.
Water polo
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USA Volleyball
Krikorian, who called an illegal timeout during the U.S.’s 11-9 overtime thriller against Australia that nearly cost his team, can shrug that off now as he became the first American coach to lead an Olympic water polo team, men or women, to a gold medal since 1904. That’s because his team rallied in and out of the pool. The Americans are the only country to medal in each of the four Olympic Games in which women’s water polo was a sport. Of course, that didn’t mean anything Thursday when players were awarded the gold. Krikorian tried calling a timeout with one second remaining of the semifinal match. His team, however, did not have possession of the ball, which becomes an automatic penalty. Australia’s Southern Ash converted the shot to tie it at 9 and force overtime. Krikorian thought his goalkeeper, Betsy Armstrong, had control of the ball. “Everything happened so quickly,” Krikorian said. “It went through my mind that I might have blown it.” The Aussies won the gold medal in 2000 after scoring in the final three seconds of the gold medal match against the U.S.
“We looked at each other and said ‘We’ve been through this before,’” Steffens said. “Nothing is going to affect us. We’re going to be the team that finishes this. We knew that whatever it came down to, we’re going to keep fighting.” Steffens, leading the way on the offensive end, made good on her word. She put the U.S. ahead halfway through the first of two three-minute overtime periods, with a skip shot. “She doesn’t play like a newcomer,” Krikorian said. Kami Craig added a goal to finish the scoring and give the Americans another shot at their first gold medal in the women’s event. “I was feeling horrible,” Krikorian said. “After it happened, it took me a couple of minutes to take a deep breath and realize what I had done and get out of the funk.” But the team’s response to his mistake, he said, was evidence of just how much the squad has developed since he took over in 2009. “When you mess up, you’ve got to own up to it,” Krikorian said. “They came over and I said, ‘My bad.’ This is not going to stop us. We’ve made mistakes before and we’ve overcome a lot of adversity over the last three and a half years so one stupid call by the coach isn’t going to affect the team’s performance.” He was right. The slip turned to gold. N
Stanford grad Logan Tom, in her fourth Olympic Games, records a spike against South Korea in Thursday’s semifinal.
Another golden opportunity awaits American women Unbeaten Team USA heads into finals of indoor volleyball tournament tanford grad Logan Tom has won a national title with Stanford women’s volleyball team. Foluke Akinradewo did not, though she played in the Final Four and Championship matches. They get a chance to share an international championship after beating South Korea, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22, in Thursday’s semifinal. The team will play for the title Saturday against the winner of a later semifinal between Brazil and Japan. “It’s great to be in this position,” U.S. middle blocker Christa Harmotto said. “It’s a position we’ve worked for for four years, and we’re exactly where we want to be.” The top-ranked United States has dropped just two sets in London. In the latest victory, Destinee Hooker scored 24 points. The American women made it to the final at the 2008 Beijing Games but settled for the silver medal, falling 3-1 to Brazil. The team has won
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silver twice and bronze once since volleyball joined the Olympics in 1964. They’ve yet to win a gold. The U.S. got an emotional boost for the match with the return of captain Lindsey Berg, who was held out of the team’s quarterfinal victory over the Dominican Republic with an injury to her lower left leg. “It’s game time and I feel great, and I don’t care how I feel after Saturday,” Berg said of the final, when the Americans will face either Brazil or Japan for gold. Fifteenth-ranked South Korea upset No. 4 Italy in four sets Tuesday to advance before losing to the Americans. South Korea’s best result in Olympic play came at the 1976 Montreal Games. The United States has a 6-2 record against South Korea in Olympic matches, including a 3-1 U.S. victory in the opening match of the tournament. The semifinal was tight at the start, but the United States pulled
Kami Craig proved instrumental in the semifinal and championship games.
USA Volleyball
Maggie Steffens scores one of her five goals Thursday. Page 30ÊUÊ Õ}ÕÃÌÊ£ä]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V
Stanford grad Foluke Akinradewo (middle) goes for a block in Team USA’s three-set sweep of South Korea.
ahead 20-16 in the first set on Hooker’s kill. The South Koreans denied the U.S. its first chance at set point before Kim Yeon-koung’s serve sailed out to give it to the Americans for set point. “I think we came out a little bit tight to tell you the truth,” said Logan Tom, a four-time Olympian. “We made some errors. We weren’t moving very well. We didn’t have our usual rhythm. I think we just picked it up. We needed a little bit of time to get accustomed to it. I think we do a really good job when it comes to that. I get nervous when I don’t have a match like that.” Jordan Larson’s spike made it 1510 in the third set, but South Korea evened it at 18 on Kim’s ace. The U.S. wouldn’t let the South Koreans take the lead. Hooker’s monster spike set up Tom’s kill for match point as the crowd at Earls Court chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” Berg, a three-time Olympian, hurt her leg in the Americans’ final preliminary-round match against Turkey on Sunday, and the U.S. kept quiet about when she might return Berg warmed up before the U.S. women’s volleyball straight-set victory the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night but didn’t play. Courtney Thompson started in her place. After the match, U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon made a point of embracing Berg. It will be the second straight Olympic final for McCutcheon, who guided the American men to a gold medal in 2008. “That’s great that she feels so positive about it,” McCutcheon said. “I had time to give her a hug and tell her nice job. If she feels good then the rest of us do as well.” N