STANFORD, Calif. – The summer with USA Water Polo will continue for Makenzie Fischer, Ashley Grossman ’15, Kiley Neushul ’15, Melissa Seidemann ’13 and Maggie Steffens as the Cardinal women’s water polo quintet was named to the United States roster for the upcoming 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.
Team USA won gold at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico and will look to defend its crown come the start of competition on July 7. The USA women are slotted in Group A with Mexico, Cuba and Argentina. In 2011, Steffens tallied the winning goal in the 20th round of an epic shootout to defeat Canada 27-26 for the gold medal.
Stanford’s five representatives on the 13-player roster led the United States to an undefeated 10-0 mark in the month of June and gold medals at the Kunshan Cup in China and the FINA World League Super Final in Shanghai.
They were responsible for half of Team USA’s 66 goals over the six games at the FINA World League Super Final to help the United States to the tournament crown for the ninth time. Fischer put home 10, Neushul added nine, Steffens contributed eight, Grossman scored five and Seidemann tallied one.
Grossman and Neushul, who recently concluded their Stanford careers with a third national championship in early May, are joined on Team USA by junior and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Steffens, 2013 graduate and fellow 2012 Olympic gold medalist Seidemann and prep standout Fischer, who signed her National Letter of Intent with the Cardinal in mid-November.
While these five with Stanford ties will represent their country in Canada, the entire current Cardinal squad will do so at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea this July. On May 1, Stanford officials announced that the university’s women’s water polo program will represent the United States at the biennial event, which incorporates both educational and cultural aspects into 12 days of sports competitions and features more than 9,000 student-athletes and officials from over 170 countries.
For more information on the Pan American Games, visit the official website at Toronto2015.org.