SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — The U.S. women's water polo team was handed a rare loss at the Paris Olympics on Monday, falling 13-11 to Bea Ortiz and Spain in a rematch of the final at the Tokyo Games.
The U.S. is going for its fourth consecutive gold medal. No team — men or women — has won four straight water polo titles at the Olympics.
It was the program's second loss at the Olympics since it dropped the 2008 final. It went 5-0-1 in London, 6-0 in Rio de Janeiro and 6-1 in Tokyo.
“It’s a long tournament," U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said. "We’ve got to learn from it and hopefully, if we get in that situation again, we can be a bit more poised.”
After its 10-9 loss to Hungary in group play in 2021, the U.S. ripped off four straight wins by a combined score of 63-26. That included a dominant 14-5 victory over Spain in the final.
This time around, it was a much different performance.
Ortiz scored five times on eight shots for Spain, which beat France 15-6 in its Group B opener on Saturday. Maica Garcia Godoy had two goals, and Paula Leiton Arrones also scored while taking advantage of the United States' youth at the center position.
“It feels great, but this is not the goal of the tournament,” Spain's Anni Espar Llaquet said. “It was an important game and we want to try to get ranked first in the group, but this means nothing.”
The U.S. began its Olympic schedule with an impressive 15-6 victory over Greece. It dropped to 18-2 this year ahead of Wednesday's game against Italy.
Rachel Fattal scored early in the third quarter to trim the U.S. deficit to 7-6. But Ortiz responded with four consecutive goals in a dazzling stretch.
“We should have been able to adjust a little quicker and when we did, you could see us slowly but surely crawling our way back," U.S. attacker Kaleigh Gilchrist said. “If we could have done a few things differently in the third quarter, who knows? But that’s the way it goes.”
The U.S. closed to 11-10 when Gilchrist scored with 5:35 left. The American team then had a chance to tie the game, but it committed a turnover.
Llaquet scored a big goal for Spain with 4:10 remaining, and goaltender Martina Terre stopped U.S. star Maddie Musselman's penalty shot to help close it out.
“I like penalties," Terre said. "They scored their first two, but the third one was my chance to finally stop that ball. I was grateful to save it, but I’m critical of myself. I need to be better and save more balls in the future.”
Jordan Raney scored a team-high two goals for the United States. Goaltender Ashleigh Johnson scored in the final seconds, but she made 13 saves on 26 shots in an uneven performance.
“I’m incredibly proud of how we came back, but I wasn’t pleased with how we handled being down there in the first place," Krikorian said.
“We got away from what the plan was. We stopped trusting each other a bit, and that’s how they were able to widen the gap.”
