Olympics report: It’s Team USA women’s water polo in a landslide

Stanford senior Aria Fischer scored twice and the United States women’s water polo team beat Spain 14-5 Saturday at the Tatsumi Water Polo Center.

Stanford’s Maggie Steffens, Melissa Seideman and Makenzie Fischer also scored for the Americans, who earned their third consecutive gold medal.

All three gold medals were earned with coach Adam Krikorian, a Mountain View High graduate.

It was a rematch of the 2012 gold medal match when the Americans earned their first gold medal with an 8-5 win over Spain.

Hungary handed the U.S. its first loss of the Olympics during preliminary play since the Netherlands bet the U.S. in the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Spain and the U.S. each entered the final match with 5-1 Olympic records.

Team USA, the only country to medal in each of the six Olympics in which women’s water polo has been a sport, took an eight-goal lead into the final period.

The U.S. (23-1, 6-1) scored 27 seconds into the match when Alys Williams fired into the net. Maggie Steffens made it 2-0 before Spain got on the board.

The Americans scored the next four goals, one from Makenzie Fischer, to charge ahead. Spain was held without a goal for six minutes as the U.S. slowly built its lead.

Spain scored twice to close within 6-3 with 2:24 left to play in the first half but Madeline Musselman answered with a power-play goal 28 seconds later.

The U.S. took a 7-4 lead into halftime and then outscored the Spanish 5-0 in the third period.

Williams also scored the first goal of the second half, needing 36 seconds to complete the task. Aria Fischer added a goal less than a minute later.

The Americans scored its first 13 goals on 22 shots.

Stanford grad Gurpeet Sohi helped Canada place seventh with a 16-7 victory over China; Australia topped the Netherlands 14-7 for fifth place; and Hungary knocked off the Russian Olympic Committee 9-7 for the bronze medal.

Women’s track and field

Menlo School grad Maddy Price helped Canada’s 4×400 relay team place fourth in the finals at Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Price, who qualified for the NCAA championships while at Duke, ran the second leg for the Canadians, who were timed in a season best 3:21.84, 6/10ths of a second behind bronze medal winner Jamaica.

The U.S., with Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu, won the gold medal in 3:16.85, a season best.

Stanford grad Malindi Elmore finished ninth overall in the marathon on Saturday at Sapporo Odori Park.

Competing for Canada, Elmore set a season best 2:30.59 in the race, which started with 88 runners (73 finished).

American Molly Seidel earned the bronze medal, completing the course in a season-best 2:27.46, 26 seconds behind gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya.

Women’s golf

Stanford alum Albane Valenzuela shot a 2-under 69 in the final round of the Olympic tournament at Kasumigaseki Country Club on Saturday to finish 8-under 276, good for 18th place.

Valenzuela recorded seven birdies in the final round, including three straight on holes 15, 16 and 17 but she also had five bogeys, including four on the back nine.

Valenzuela, the top-ranked player in Switzerland, competed in her second Olympics.

USA’s Kelly Korda held on to win the gold medal, firing a final round 2-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, each of whom shot a 6-under 65. Inami won the playoff for the silver medal.

By Rick Eymer

By Rick Eymer

By Rick Eymer

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