HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – Stanford signees Makenzie Fischer and Madison Berggren were name to the 13-athlete roster that will represent Team USA at the upcoming FINA Women’s Intercontinental Tournament USA Women’s Senior National Team Head Coach Adam Krikorian announced Monday.
The top four finishers from the event, which runs from April 28 to May 3 in Auckland, New Zealand, will qualify for the FINA World League Super Final. Team USA will open competition on April 28 against Brazil. They will also take on China and Kazakhstan to close out group play.
With the NCAA women's water polo season in full swing, the USA squad will be comprised of National Team veterans and rising stars from the high school game like Fischer and Berggren. The pair, among six prep standouts who committed to the Cardinal in mid-November, will play alongside the likes of former Stanford great and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Melissa Seidemann.
Fischer, a senior at Laguna Beach High School, has previously played with the Senior Team on a number of occasions. She scored five goals in helping Team USA to gold at the 2014 FINA World League Super Final in Kunshan, China this past June and tallied six goals en route to silver at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament in Riverside, Calif. in May.
In the span of one calendar year, Fischer won two world championships for her country, first with the USA Water Polo Women's Junior National Team at the FINA Women's Junior World Championship in Volos, Greece in August 2013 and again this past August with the USA Water Polo Youth National Team at the FINA Youth World Championships in Madrid.
She also participated in a training trip to Italy in March and scored against the Italian Women’s National Team in an exhibition match played at the historic indoor Foro Italico. Recently voted CIF Division I Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, Fischer guided Laguna Beach to an undefeated season and a second consecutive Division I crown.
Berggren, a two-time veteran of USA Water Polo Youth National Teams (2013 and 2014), will be making her first appearance with the senior squad. Last August, she joined Fischer, fellow signee Kat Klass and current Stanford freshman Jordan Raney on the gold-medal winning USA squad at the FINA Youth World Championships in Madrid.
The title capped an undefeated week for Team USA, which beat Hungary, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Canada en route to its first-ever FINA Youth World Championship. Berggren scored four times for her country in the tournament, highlighted by a three-goal performance in an Aug. 27 victory over Germany.
Berggren led Tualatin High School to Oregon state championships in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and was named State Tournament MVP each of the past two seasons. The left-handed driver scored nine of the Timberwolves’ 16 goals in their 16-10 title-game victory over West Albany in late November.