Since women's water polo was added to the Olympic program in 2000, the U.S. has medaled in every tournament. What the Americans hadn't claimed, though, was gold, taking silver in 2000 and 2008 and bronze in 2004.
The drought is over for the U.S., as Maggie Steffens scored four goals to pace the Americans to an 8-5 win over Spain in the gold medal match at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
The match was a replay of a preliminary meeting, which ended in a tie after the U.S. gave up a three goal lead in the fourth quarter. This time around, the Americans made sure that wasn't possible.
Spain struck first with a goal by Jennifer Pareja, who led Spain with four goals in the first match in the U.S. during group play. The Americans looked to tie on a Kami Craig shot, but the goal was called back because an exclusion foul had been called against Spain. The call worked against the U.S., though, as the Americans could not score on the power play. Another power play in the last minute of the first quarter worked out better for the U.S., though, as Maggie Steffens scored to make it 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.
The Spaniards made it 2-1 in the second quarter with another goal by Pareja, who benefited when U.S. goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong just failed to keep the ball out of the net. The Americans answered quickly, though, as Heather Petri fooled Spanish goalkeeper Laura Ester Ramos with an off-speed shot to make it 2-2. The Americans then took the lead with another goal by Steffens, as older sister Jessica Steffens made an expert pass to her younger sibling at the left goalpost to set up the go-ahead goal. From there, Melissa Seidemann whipped a low shot into the bottom right corner of the goal to make it 4-2, and Maggie Steffens completed the hat trick with a bouncing shot that slipped under Ramos' arm to make it 5-2, which is how the score stood as the teams headed to halftime.
In the third quarter, Steffens picked up right where she left off, scoring on a penalty shot to make it 6-2. Spain was unable to answer, and a long shot from Brenda Villa made it 7-2 in favor of the U.S. at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter got off to a fantastic start for the Americans when Armstrong stopped a penalty shot at one end, then got the ball down to the other end of the pool for a goal by Maggie Steffens. The Spaniards answered with goals by Pareja and Anni Espar Llaquet, but time was not in their favor. Espar Llaquet scored again in the final minute of play, but the Americans already had all the goals they'd need to win.
Next up for Steffens? She starts school at Stanford University in the fall.
