2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Water Polo: Saturday, July 24 – Saturday, August 7, 2021
- Men’s Water Polo: Sunday, July, 25 – Sunday, August 8, 2021
- Where: Tatsumi International Swimming Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Full aquatics schedule
- What You Need to Know
- Stream on NBC Olympics
- Results
The two women’s semifinals matches took place today, setting up the Gold and Bronze medal matches. The USA and Spain each win their matches, and will meet in the Gold medal match. ROC and Hungary lost their semifinals matches, and will play each other for the Bronze medal.
Semifinals Matches Recap:
USA vs Russia (ROC):
The Russian Olympic Committee squad led the USA through the first half of the match, heading into halftime with a 7-6 lead. The Americans took control in the 3rd quarter, outscoring ROC 5-3, to head into the 4th quarter up 11-9. The USA then outscored Russia again in the 4th quarter, 4-2, to ultimately win the match 15-11.
The Americans were slightly more efficient on offense than Russia was, shooting at 39% to Russia’s 34%. Russia, however, was much more effective on their extra player time than the USA was. Both teams scored 6 extra player goals, but the USA took 15 extra player shots, while Russia only took 10. Therefore, ROC scored on 60% of their extra player shots, while the US only scored on 40% of theirs.
Both teams’ goalkeepers had a lot on their hands. Russian keeper Evgeniia Golovina saved 10 of the 25 shots that came her way, for a save percentage of 40%. Meanwhile US keeper Ashleigh Johnson saved 8 of the 19 shots that came her way, for a save percentage of 42%. Johnson outperformed Golovina pretty significantly in regular play, but struggled hard on extra player shots, saving only 25%.
Both teams’ defenses played very well, each blocking 13 shots from getting to the keeper. American Madeline Musselman did an excellent job of keeping pressure on the Russian defense. Musselman played all but 1:12 of the match, and took 10 shots, scoring 5 of them. Fellow starters Margaret Steffens and Makenzie Fischer also did their parts to keep getting shots up. Steffens took 6 shots, scoring 3 of them, while Fischer took 8 shots, scoring 2.
Spain vs Hungary:
Spain won another low-scoring match, signaling just how formidable their defense is. The Spanish defense kept Hungary for establishing offense early, and was able to hold off the Hungarians in the 4th quarter, despite not scoring a goal. Spain led 5-2 at halftime, then expanded that lead to 8-4 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Hungary got 2 goals back in the 4th quarter, but it wasn’t enough, and Spain won the match 8-6.
To only praise Spain’s defense wouldn’t be fair, as both teams clamped down on the opposing team’s offense. For example, Spain’s defense managed to block 17 shots from getting to the keeper, while Hungary blocked 16.
Shooting was tough for both teams, as Spain went 8-for-36, for a 22% shooting efficiency, and Hungary went 6-for-32, for 19% efficiency.
The goalkeepers also performed very similarly. Spain’s Laura Ester Ramos save 9 of 15 shots that came her way, while Hungary’s Alda Magyari saved 9 of 17 shots.
Spain’s Anna Espar Llaquet did an excellent job of keeping the pressure on the Hungarian defense. Llaquet put up 9 shots on the match, scoring 3 goals.
In the 5th-8th place games, Netherlands beat China 13-6, while Australia beat Canada 14-12.
Women’s Semifinals Matches Results:
Women’s Finals Bracket:
