STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford All-Americans Jamie Neushul and Jordan Raney helped the United States repeat as FINA Junior World Champions with an undefeated run to the title in Volos, Greece over the past week. Team USA outscored its opponents 106 to 46 over the six games, which were capped with a 13-10 victory over Spain in Sunday’s championship.
Neushul, who served as captain for the United States, scored 14 goals, including three hat tricks, while Raney, the reigning MPSF Newcomer of the Year, added six. The victory maintains the USA Water Polo Women's National Team program status as reigning Olympic, FINA World, FINA Junior World, FINA Youth World, FINA World Cup and FINA World League Champions.
“I think that we got together a cohesive group of talented girls and we were given the challenge of becoming a team in a short period of time, which is no easy feat,” Neushul told USAWaterPolo.org. “We knew the only way we could win was to win together. Rather than a relying on talent alone, we were able to rely on one another and play for each other through every possession. It is a staple of USA Water Polo and a staple of champions.”
The United States opened up the tournament on August 17 with a 28-0 drubbing of Mexico and routed Ukraine 23-0 the following day. Neushul fired home four goals on day one and another on day two with Raney scoring once in the opener and twice against the Ukrainians.
Team USA wrapped up group play on August 19 with a 17-16 win over Spain. Neushul tallied her second hat trick in the victory and her goal with 15 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner. Raney was responsible for another of her team’s three important fourth-quarter scores, putting one home in a man-up situation with 6:45 left.
The United States beat Brazil in the quarterfinals on August 21, 12-9, behind three scored from Neushul and one from Raney. Neushul added two and Raney one in Saturday’s semifinal win over Russia, 13-11, before Sunday’s 13-10 championship clincher in which Neushul rattled the cage once.
Congrats Jordan & @Jneushul8 on bringing home the Gold. #Volos2015. Jr Worlds. pic.twitter.com/PF8Ajkvjoe
— Stanford Water Polo (@Stanfordh2opolo) August 23, 2015
Raney and Neushul both earned spots on the ACWPC All-America honorable mention squad this past season. Raney, the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, set a league record by bringing home five MPSF/Kap7 Newcomer of the Week awards in 2015. Neushul, who was also an honorable mention All-American as a freshman in 2014, scored 28 times, including two hat tricks as part of nine multi-goal efforts.
Recent graduates and three-time NCAA champions, Ashley Grossman and Kiley Neushul helped the United States to gold at the 2013 FINA Junior World Championships, which also took place in Volos. For the tournament, Grossman scored 12 times while Neushul found the net on 11 occasions over USA's perfect 6-0 run to the gold medal. Rising senior Gurpreet Sohi also participated in 2013, helping Canada to a ninth-place finish.
It has been a busy summer for Stanford women’s water polo student-athletes across the globe. Makenzie Fischer, Ashley Grossman ’15, Kiley Neushul ’15, Melissa Seidemann ’13 and Maggie Steffens have led the USA Senior Women’s National Team to a 22-1 mark in the months of June, July and August, including gold medals at the Kunshan Cup in China, the FINA World League Super Final in Shanghai, the Pan Am Games in Toronto and the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
In early July, the remainder of Stanford’s current squad, including Jamie Neushul and Raney, represented the United States at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea and finished fifth. That crew went down to Southern California days after returning home and won gold at the 2015 US Open of Water Polo.
Stanford won 25 games for the ninth consecutive season in 2015 and made history on May 10 by becoming the first host institution to win the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship. The national crown was the fifth in program history and the Cardinal’s fourth in the past five seasons.