For the first time since women’s water polo was introduced to the Summer Olympics in 2000, the Team U.S.A. will go home without a medal.
Netherlands stunned the Americans in the Paris bronze-medal match early Saturday, erasing a three-goal deficit in the final four minutes and winning on a goal by Sabrina van der Sloot with one second remaining, 11-10.
It was the second heartbreaking loss in two days for the U.S. women, who suffered a 14-13 defeat by Australia in the semifinals, decided by a penalty shootout.
In six previous Olympics, the Americans’ medal haul was three golds, two silvers and a bronze. They came to Paris hoping to win their fourth consecutive championship.
Santa Barbara’s Ryann Neushul, whose sisters Kiley and Jamie had each earned gold medals, was a standout in Saturday’s game. The first-time Olympian came off the bench and scored two goals, sharing team-high honors with veteran Maddie Musselman. Her skip shot to the far post late in the second quarter gave the U.S.A. a 7-3 halftime lead.
Neushul took a penalty shot at the end of the third quarter that could have maintained the four-goal lead, but Dutch goalie Laura Aarts made the save. The score was 9-6 entering the final period.
Van der Sloot, who scored seven times for the Netherlands, made a penalty shot to cut the margin to two goals, but Jenna Flynn upped the score to 10-7 on a power-play goal.
The Dutch, dangerous on counterattacks, scored three goals in less than three minutes to tie the score 10-10 with 1:19 to play.
U.S.A. took possession with 40 seconds to play on a steal by goalie Ashleigh Johnson, but Flynn’s attempt to break the tie was saved by Aarts with nine seconds on the clock. After a time-out, the Dutch brought their goalie up to play 7-on-6, and van der Sloot threaded a perimeter shot through the defense for the winning goal.
VOLLEYBALL FINAL: After the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics is televised from 12-3 p.m. Sunday, NBC will televise a replay of the early morning gold-medal women’s volleyball match between the U.S.A. and Italy.