SportsOlympics

Actions

U.S. women lose first Olympic water polo match in 13 years

Posted
and last updated

The United States women's water polo team on Wednesday suffered its first loss in Olympic competition since the gold-medal match at Beijing in 2008.

Thirteen years. Poof! 

Hungary, a traditional "old continent" power in the sport, matched the Americans with two goals in the first quarter and three in the second, setting the stage for a wild second half.

The U.S. jumped ahead 8-6 heading into the fourth quarter, but Hungary tied it up 9-9 late. And with a mere 45 seconds left in the match. Rebecca Parkes flipped an overhead shot past U.S. goaltender Ashleigh Johnson for the difference-maker.

Maddie Musselman scored a hat trick and Makenzie Fischer and Rachel Fattal each scored twice for the Americans, who fell to 2-1 in group stage play and remains in position to advance to the knockout rounds with one more preliminary match to play.

Hungary improved to 2-0-1.