USA women’s senior national water polo team coach Adam Krikorian announced the roster for the FINA World Championships that start Sunday in Budapest, Hungary.
The roster includes seven from the team that won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Stanford grad and team captain Maggie Steffens and Cardinal grad Melissa Seidemann are the only two-time Olympic champs on the roster for the defending World Champs.
Six players will be making their FINA world championships debut: incoming Stanford freshman and Olympian Aria Fischer, Stanford’s Gabby Stone, Jamie Neushul and Jordan Ramey, and Amanda Longan and Paige Hauschild, who will join Longan at USC in the fall.
In addition to Steffens and Seidemann, five others have World Championship experience, having helped the U.S. win the 2015 gold medal in Kazan, Russia. They include Maddie Musselman, Rachel Fattal, Stanford grad and Olympian Kiley Neushul, Cardinal sophomore and Olympian Makenzie Fischer and Alys Williams.
Team USA opens against South Africa on Sunday and continue group play with matches against Spain and New Zealand before the knockout stage begins on July 22.
The USA is the only women’s team to win four FINA World Championships (2003, 2007, 2009, 2015) and currently holds every major FINA Championship with a number one ranking in the world.
The newly launched Olympic Channel will be airing all the action from Budapest.