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USC Women’s Water Polo’s Anni Espar and Tilly Kearns Will Play for Olympic Gold
August 08, 2024 | Women's Water Polo
Gold and silver medals are coming to Troy, while Team USA's Trojans aim for bronze in Paris.
It was a wild day in the pool in Paris, with five Women of Troy doing battle in the Olympic semifinals to determine which color medal they would each fight for next. By day's end, USC would be assured a gold medal when Anni Espar's Spain squad pulled out a penalty shootout win over the Netherlands to get a place in the gold-medal game. The other semifinal was another tense one, with four Women of Troy in the pool also looking to help their respective nations get to the gold-medal game.
It took another penalty shootout to decide things, and current Trojan Tilly Kearns would bury her shot to keep her Australian team on pace to an eventual win over Team USA, which has three Trojans on its roster. The United States will now play for a bronze medal, with USC alumnae Kaleigh Gilchrist and Amanda Longan looking to add to the golds they won in 2020 and incoming Trojan Emily Ausmus aiming to win her first Olympic medal.
Espar and Kearns have ensured that USC women's water polo will continue its run of Olympic gold medalists, with Trojans winning gold in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020, and now assured another in 2024. Since women's water polo was first included in the Olympic Games in 2000, USC has had at least two Trojan medalists in all but one Olympics.
As a university, USC has won gold in every summer Olympics since 1912, and that streak will stay intact thanks to this 2024 women's water polo final. Entering these 2024 Games, USC boasted more overall Olympians, more overall medals and more gold medals than any other U.S. university.
Playing in her fourth Olympics for Spain, Anni Espar (2013 NCAA champion) will be playing in her third gold-medal game. She earned silver medals in 2012 and 2020, both times playing against the USA.
Current Trojan Tilly Kearns is competing in her second Olympics for Australia. A two-time Cutino Award finalist at USC, Kearns will be playing for her first Olympic medal, as Australia finished fifth in 2020.
A 2013 NCAA champion as a Trojan, Kaleigh Gilchrist has won gold medals with Team USA at the 2016 and 2020 Games, giving her a chance to add to her medal count when the United States takes on the Netherlands in the bronze-medal game.
A two-time NCAA champion (2016 and 2018) and 2018 Cutino Award winner, goalie Amanda Longan is competing in her second Olympic Games, having won gold with Team USA in 2020.
Incoming Trojan Emily Ausmus is a first-time Olympian looking to medal in her first Games before starting her USC career in the fall.
Also continuing their competition in Paris are two Canadian Trojans — Verica Bakoc and Hayley McKelvey — who will be playing in the seventh-place game against Greece. A two-time Olympian and two-time NCAA champion (2016 and 2018), McKelvey helped Canada finish seventh at the 2020 Games. Bakoc, also a two-time NCAA champion at USC (2018 and 2021), is playing in her first Olympic Games.
Saturday, August 9 Olympic women's water polo schedule:
7th PLACE: 12 a.m. PT - Canada vs. Greece
BRONZE: 1:35 a.m. PT - United States vs. Netherlands
GOLD: 6:35 a.m. PT - Australia vs. Spain
It took another penalty shootout to decide things, and current Trojan Tilly Kearns would bury her shot to keep her Australian team on pace to an eventual win over Team USA, which has three Trojans on its roster. The United States will now play for a bronze medal, with USC alumnae Kaleigh Gilchrist and Amanda Longan looking to add to the golds they won in 2020 and incoming Trojan Emily Ausmus aiming to win her first Olympic medal.
Espar and Kearns have ensured that USC women's water polo will continue its run of Olympic gold medalists, with Trojans winning gold in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020, and now assured another in 2024. Since women's water polo was first included in the Olympic Games in 2000, USC has had at least two Trojan medalists in all but one Olympics.
As a university, USC has won gold in every summer Olympics since 1912, and that streak will stay intact thanks to this 2024 women's water polo final. Entering these 2024 Games, USC boasted more overall Olympians, more overall medals and more gold medals than any other U.S. university.
Playing in her fourth Olympics for Spain, Anni Espar (2013 NCAA champion) will be playing in her third gold-medal game. She earned silver medals in 2012 and 2020, both times playing against the USA.
Current Trojan Tilly Kearns is competing in her second Olympics for Australia. A two-time Cutino Award finalist at USC, Kearns will be playing for her first Olympic medal, as Australia finished fifth in 2020.
A 2013 NCAA champion as a Trojan, Kaleigh Gilchrist has won gold medals with Team USA at the 2016 and 2020 Games, giving her a chance to add to her medal count when the United States takes on the Netherlands in the bronze-medal game.
A two-time NCAA champion (2016 and 2018) and 2018 Cutino Award winner, goalie Amanda Longan is competing in her second Olympic Games, having won gold with Team USA in 2020.
Incoming Trojan Emily Ausmus is a first-time Olympian looking to medal in her first Games before starting her USC career in the fall.
Also continuing their competition in Paris are two Canadian Trojans — Verica Bakoc and Hayley McKelvey — who will be playing in the seventh-place game against Greece. A two-time Olympian and two-time NCAA champion (2016 and 2018), McKelvey helped Canada finish seventh at the 2020 Games. Bakoc, also a two-time NCAA champion at USC (2018 and 2021), is playing in her first Olympic Games.
Saturday, August 9 Olympic women's water polo schedule:
7th PLACE: 12 a.m. PT - Canada vs. Greece
BRONZE: 1:35 a.m. PT - United States vs. Netherlands
GOLD: 6:35 a.m. PT - Australia vs. Spain
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