US overcomes coach’s error for spot in water- polo final

LONDON — Adam Krikorian made a terrible blunder, and it almost cost the U. S. a spot in the women’s Olympic water polo final.

Lucky for him, Maggie Steffens and Kami Craig were there to pick up their beleaguered coach.

Steffens and Craig scored in overtime Tuesday after Krikorian handed a last- second penalty to Australia, and the Americans held on to win 11- 9 and advance to Thursday’s final against unbeaten Spain.

In a bruising match between the favorites coming into the London Games, the Americans appeared to have the win wrapped up in regulation after Australia captain Kate Gynther’s shot rattled the crossbar in the closing seconds.

But with one second on the clock, Krikorian called a time- out without his team having possession of the ball — an automatic penalty. Australia’s Southern Ash converted the shot to tie it at 9

and force overtime.

“We looked at each other and said ’ We’ve been through this before,”’ Steffens said of the team huddle ahead of the extra session. “Nothing’s going to affect us. We’re going to be the team that finishes this. We knew that whatever it came down to, we’re going to keep fighting.”

And the Americans did just that, with Steffens leading the way on the offensive end.

The 19- year- old Steffens, who raised her tournament- leading tally to 16 goals, put the U. S. ahead halfway through the first of two three- minute overtime periods with a skip shot, setting of raucous “USA! USA!” chants from the crowd in the packed water polo arena in the Olympic Park. Then Craig slotted home from close range to finish the scoring and give the Americans another shot at their first gold medal in the women’s event.

Even on a team with two fourtime Olympians — Brenda Villa and Heather Petri — playing in their last games, there may have been no one more relieved on the U. S. bench than Krikorian.

“I was feeling horrible. There’s thoughts that go through your mind: ‘ Man, I might have blown this one,”’ he said of his time- out call. “It’s all a bit of a blur, but ultimately I made a big mistake. ... To be honest, after it happened, it took me a couple of minutes to take a deep breath and realize what I had done and get out of the funk.”

But the team’s response to his mistake, he said, was evidence of just how much the squad has developed since he took over in 2009.

“When you mess up, you’ve got to own up to it. They came over and I said, ‘ My bad.’ This is not going to stop us,” he said. “We’ve made mistakes before and we’ve overcome a lot of adversity over the last three and a half years so one stupid call by the coach isn’t going to affect the team’s performance.”