Women's Team: Post Olympic Thoughts

Not using the new 2-meter rule to our advantage against Australia

Our expectations influence our happiness.

If our expectations are low and reality exceeds them then we’re happier.

When our expectations are high and reality doesn’t match them, we are unhappy.

The men’s team’s expectations were low. We hadn't medaled in several Olympics. And the last time we medaled before 2008 was in 1992. USA Water polo fans weren’t used to the men's team medaling and probably most weren’t expecting the USA to medal in Paris. Then when Team USA won the bronze it was exciting.

The women’s team came in with high expectations and deservedly so.

Back-to-back-to-back Olympic Champions. The 2023 World Champions. A team filled with the most dominant women’s goalie, the all-time Olympic goal scorer, and the MVP from the Tokyo games. Anything other than another gold medal would feel like a disappointment. Then we didn't even medal so it feels even worse.

The silver lining is a USA loss means the women’s game and the competition are getting better and the U.S. has a hand in that too. How many times during a broadcast did you hear how another country’s best player was an all-American at a U.S. university? Or how they were teammates with a U.S. player in college.

The resources that we put into women's college sports are spilling over to the rest of the world. As other countries have more success in women's water polo it can spur other countries to put more resources into their women’s programs. This increases access for women athletes and grows the sport.

Men’s vs Women’s

A big difference I noticed between men’s and women’s games was the front-court offense and the use of the new 2-meter box rule.

Every men's team I saw took advantage of the new rule allowing a player to cross the 2-meter line without the ball as long as they were outside the red zone along the goalline.

I didn't watch as many women's games as men’s, but the Netherlands and Spain were the two women's teams I consistently saw bringing a player down toward the baseline with or without the ball.

This was a problem for Team USA offensively, especially in the loss to Australia.

USA vs Australia

Against Australia, USA would consistently move the ball over to the 4/5 side

With or without the new rule, if the ball gets stuck on this side with a team full of right-handers then you want to stretch the 4/5 side of the defense.

Take the ball in past the 2-meter line.

Now you have more of a set-up like this.

Now you have options on the other side of the ball to attack the defense on your strong side.

Attack Cage for Entry Pass

You can attack the cage from the 5 spot. You force the goalie to get on their legs and to square up with the ball. You also force the X5 defender to make a decision.

If X5 attacks you and your center has position to the 4/5 side, you now have a leading entry pass to your center who can make a quarter turn for the ejection or even a penalty.

Off-Ball Drives

Or if the X5 defender stays up in the passing lane to the center. Then you can have an off-ball drive to the opposite post.

You have a cross pass to a dunk in front of the goal or a potential penalty if the X2 defender is on their back and fouls from behind.

This video clip — and I believe it’s Ryder Dodd playing for Mission Water Polo — is a good example of stretching the 4/5 side, attacking the baseline, and looking for cross passes to an off-ball drive.

The passing lane wasn’t there on this drive. But you can see how it creates offense away from the ball. Next time the defense may panic and have their X5 defender hit the passer to prevent the cross pass. Now your center is open for an entry pass.

Or the player at the 1 Spot followed the ball inside the 2-meter line and now they can do a little slip drive to the back of their defender and make an inside move to the goal if the X1 defender gets caught to the high side of the 1 spot.

1/2 Up Pick

A common move I saw the women’s teams do is a 1/2 up-pick.

The deep wing on the 1/2 side comes up and picks the X2 defender.

If the defense switches on the pick, the up-picking 1 spot can seal the X2 defender on their back and drive to the cage.

If the defense doesn't switch on the up-pick, then you have your teammate from the 2 spot driving down towards the 2-meter line with a defender on their back.

USA Wrapped Up

Instead, what I saw Team USA against Australia do was wrap the 5 spot up to a shooting position.

And now the right side of your offense is bunched up.

This helps out the 4/5 zone defense.

For some reason, Maddie Musselman was consistently the 5 spot player in the game against Australia. She is a great all-around player but her biggest threat is as a shooter. Every comment about her shot is how tough it is block. So I get why she is wrapping up.

The clock is winding down and you want to get your best shooters in a position.

But by bunching up, you allow the defense to get more shot blockers in front of each shooter.

And sometimes, Team USA would run a double post and still keep everyone up high.

Even with the great shooters that Team USA has, this is a tough set-up to score from. You potentially have 3 shot blockers in front of each shooting position.

Musselman at 4

If you’re going to have Maddie Musselman work the right side of your offense, have her at the 4 spot and someone else works the 5 spot who is more of a playmaker.

This allows Maddie to attack that 4 shooting pocket and look for a catch-and-shoot cross cage if the defense is out of position in the 4/5 zone.

In the bronze medal game against the Netherlands, Maddie spent most of the game on her strong side.

I also noticed that Team USA was trying to stretch the defense more in the Bronze medal game. They were using the new rule and moving players inside the 2-meter line with and without the ball. It makes me wonder if there was a specific game plan against Australia that didn’t work out.

Center Forwards

Our center forwards did not have the best tournament.

They seemed content to square up with the top and to not hold a specific side. This forced long over-the-top entry passes that invited crashers to steal the ball before they could get anything off. This positioning also reduced their ability to draw penalties. Another new rule that we didn’t use fully to our advantage.

If they held a side, like the 4/5 side, and Team USA stretched this zone by attacking the baseline. Then the deep wing could have an entry pass to the center and the center would have a better body position to turn the defender, seal them on their back, and draw the penalty, or at least draw an ejection if it was only a quarter turn.

The same could’ve been done to the right-hander’s side, the 1/2 side.

It doesn’t help that our offense in the final seconds of a possession tended to drift into a bunched-up outside shooting shell.

Why hold a side to a deep wing for a late drop to draw an exclusion if no one is there to feed you the ball?

2028

There was a press conference before the tournament started with Adam Krikorian, Maggie Steffens, Kaleigh Gilchrist, Rachel Fattal, and Ashleigh Johnson. I can't remember if Maddie Musselman was on the panel or not. I don’t think she was but I can’t find the clip.

They were asked if they would come back. All of the players said TBD except Kaleigh who said no.

If they had won gold I think Steffens would’ve retired. Go out on top with 4 straight gold medals. Something that will probably never happen again in women’s Olympic water polo.

Now that they lost and didn’t medal, I think Steffens would be fired up to return. But it would be her 5th Olympics and another 4 years of training. Maybe putting the other aspects of her life on hold doesn't sound so appealing anymore. I tend to think she’ll come back for one more shot at the gold.

Win or lose, I expected Ashleigh Johnson to come back for the LA games. She is playing pro overseas and her modeling/influencer business should give her the flexibility to train for another 4 years. Plus, she is still the most dominant women’s goalie in the game and I don’t expect her level of play to dip between now and 2028.

I don't have any read on Rachel Fattal. If it were me and my oldest teammates were all coming back, I would probably ride for one more time too. But maybe after three Olympics, she is ready to pursue other interests.

The women’s team has always had a good mix of experience and youth. Adam does a great job building teams that can win now but that are also set up to develop future talent. If all the veterans — except Kaleigh — come back, then the team will be on the older side. This may discourage or crowd out some potential young talent. But when players of this caliber and impact want to come back you bring them back even if they skew the team a little older.

Adam Krikorian

Does Adam come back or does he pass the baton off to someone new?

I was a little surprised he came back for the 4th Olympics. He broke the gold medal curse and won 3 in a row. Plus, some attractive college jobs opened up over the last 4 years that he would've been an immediate finalist for. I get it. He’s a competitor and winning 4 gold medals in a row sounds so much better than winning 3. But if I had to guess, I think Adam Krikorian might be ready to move on and allow someone else to take over the helm. 4 Olympic cycles is a lot. He might like a little downtime but I expect to see him coaching at the college level again.