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How tough is tough? U.S. women show fortitude en route to Gold match
SYDNEY, Australia -- How tough is the U.S. women's water polo team? They're this tough: Center-forward Heather Moody took a blow to the face that bloodied her nose and knocked her loopy late in the semifinal match against the Netherlands on Friday. "But all she kept saying while the trainers were trying to fix her up was, 'What's the score? Are we still ahead?'" said coach Guy Baker. And they're this tough: Center-forward Maureen O'Toole, the 39-year-old mother who came out of retirement to play in these Games because they marked the first time women's water polo has been an Olympic sport, described one of her goals thusly: "Well, the defender tried to grab my face and missed, and that left me a pretty good shooting opportunity."
Far be it from us to disagree with O'Toole, who's widely considered to be the greatest female player in her sport's history, but the U.S.-Netherlands match was a physical, sometimes brutal, match. Perhaps the U.S. women didn't feel their bruises afterward because they were too euphoric over their 6-5 victory, which propelled them into the gold-medal match against Australia on Saturday. O'Toole got the U.S. off to a flying start with goals on the Americans' first two possessions, Robin Beauregard broke a 5-5 tie with the game-winner in the final period, and goalkeeper Bernice Orwig, inspired by her fallen teammate,preserved the victory by batting away a point-blank shot with less than a minute to play. "I was upset that Heather had gotten injured and I wanted to keep the cage clear for her," Orwig said. The Dutch team came into the Games as the top-ranked team in the world, and the U.S. squad will have to pull off another upset if it is to take the gold. The Americans will be playing Australia before a crowd of about 17,000 on the Aussies' home soil -- er, water. "They're the favorites, no doubt about it," says Baker. "They've beaten us more than we've beaten them, and they're at home." After the Netherlands game, the Americans didn't immediately know if Moody would be able to play against Australia, since it hadn't been determined whether her nose was broken. "But I would bet she'll be out there," Baker said. "She's pretty tough." Just like her teammates. Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor is in Sydney covering the
men's basketball competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com.
Check back daily to read Taylor's behind-the-scene reports from
Down Under.
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