Team USA bound for Rio

The U.S. women’s water polo team will have the opportunity to defend its Olympic gold medal this summer in Rio, as the Americans punched their ticket to the Olympic Games with a 19-0 win over France Saturday at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gouda, the Netherlands.

Team USA, which includes former Corona del Mar High standout Maddie Musselman and former Newport Harbor star Kaleigh Gilchrist, advances to the semifinals against Spain Sunday at 4 p.m. PT. The match will be webcast live.

Makenzie Fischer, out of Laguna Beach, led the U.S. women with six goals.

Musselman and Gilchrist scored one goal each. They were among nine scorers for the winners’ balanced effort.

“It gets me emotional thinking about it because it just shows that this team is more about the team than themselves,” U.S. Coach Adam Krikorian said of the team’s balance. “It just makes you feel so good as a coach and as a staff, they are just so unselfish they want to do it for each other more than themselves. It says so much just about their character and who they are as a people, more than just water polo players. That’s why coaching them has been a blast. I’m thankful we won mostly because now I get an opportunity to coach them again for another four months, so I look forward to the next four months.”

Team USA went five for six on power plays and one for one on penalty shots, while France went scoreless on six power plays and did not attempt a penalty shot.

— From staff reports