California women’s Kitty Lynn Joostra played 11 minutes without scoring for the Netherlands, but she was awarded the bronze medal when the Netherlands staged a stunning late-game comeback and scored the game-winning goal with one second left to beat the United States 11-10 in the women’s water polo third-place match on Saturday.
Three years ago, before her senior year at UCLA, Jostra competed in her first Olympics with the Netherlands, which finished sixth at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Now 26, Joustra has made it onto the podium this time, thanks to a frantic four-minute lead from the Dutch.
Jostra was in the starting lineup for the Dutch team, which trailed throughout the bronze medal game and faced a 10-7 deficit when the United States’ Jenna Flynn scored with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter.
The Netherlands managed to cut the deficit to two goals when Vivianne Sevinic scored with 3:54 left, then Sevinic scored again at 3:14 to make it 3:14.
Bente Rogge tied the game 10-10 with a goal in overtime with 1:19 left. The U.S. failed to score on its next possession, then traded fouls with the Netherlands getting the ball back and calling a timeout with nine seconds left.
Sabrina van der Sloot then scored her sixth goal of the game with one second left to give the Netherlands their first lead of the match as well as the win and the bronze medal.
Sabrina van der Sloot scored her sixth goal of the game to complete an unlikely late comeback for the Netherlands in the bronze medal match. 😳#Paris Olympics pic.twitter.com/0KwAB4tALH
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024
It was a disappointing result for the Americans, who won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics. They lost to Australia on penalties in the semifinals of those Games before failing to hold on to their lead in the dying moments on Saturday.
Brothers Paul and Emma Wright, Canada: Wright scored two goals and Paul had one, but Canada lost to Greece 19-10 in the women’s water polo seventh-eighth seeding match.
As a result, Canada finished eighth after finishing seventh at the 2020 Olympics in 2021. Paul and Wright have also played on the Canadian team at previous Olympics as well.
Paul, 28, graduated from UCLA in 2018, and Wright, 27, played at UCLA from 2017 to 2019.
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