Cal Sports Report

Kitty Lynn Joustra, Netherlands Capture Water Polo Bronze Medal

Ex-Cal star benefits as the Dutch score the game-winning goal with one second left to beat the United States women

Jake Curtis

Netherlands center forward Kitty Lynn Joustra
Netherlands center forward Kitty Lynn Joustra / Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
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Former Cal All-American Kitty Lynn Joustra played 11 minutes without scoring a goal for Netherlands, but she picked up a bronze medal as the Dutch pulled off an amazing late-game comeback and scored the winning goal with one second left to defeat the favored United States 11-10 in the third-place game in women’s water polo on Saturday.

Three years ago, before her final year at Cal, Joustra played in her first Olympics for Netherlands, which finished sixth in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

Now 26 years old, Joustra winds up on the podium this time, thanks to a frantic four-minute surge by the Netherlands.

Joustra was in the starting lineup for the Dutch team, which trailed throughout the bronze-medal game and faced a 10-7 deficit when the United States’ Jenna Flynn scored with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Netherlands got within two when Vivian Sevenich scored with 3:54 left, and Sevenich scored again at the 3:14 mark to get the Dutch within one goal.

Bente Rogge tied the score 10-10 with a goal in an extra-player situation with 1:19 to go. The U.S. failed to score on its ensuing possession, and the teams then traded turnovers with the Netherlands gaining possession and calling a timeout with nine seconds remaining.

Sabrina van der Sloot then scored her sixth goal of the game with one second left to give the Netherlands its first lead of the game as well as the victory and a bronze medal.

It was a disappointing result for the Americans, who won the gold medal in each the past three Olympics. The Americans had medaled in every Olympics since 2000, which was txhe first year women's water polo was an Olympic sport.

The Americans lost to Australia on a penalty shootout in the semifinals of this Olympics before failing to hold a late lead on Saturday. It left the U.S. without a medal for the first time in 24 years.

Kindred Paul and Emma Wright, Canada: Wright scored two goals and Paul scored one, but Canada lost to Greece 19-10 in a seventh-eighth classification game in women’s water polo. 

As a result, Canada finished in eighth place after placing seventh in 2021 at the 2020 Olympics. Paul and Wright both played on that Canadian team in the previous Olympics as well.

The 28-year-old Paul is a 2018 graduate of Cal, and Wright, 27, played at Cal from 2017 to 2019.

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Jake Curtis

JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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