Cal at the Olympics: Roser Tarrago Gets Silver, Anna Illes Gets Bronze in Water Polo

Tarrago's Spanish team loses to the United States in gold-medal game.

Former Cal standout Rose Tarrago picked up her second Olympic silver medal as a member of Spain’s women’s water polo team, and her former Cal teammate, Anna Illes, captured a bronze medal with the Hungarian squad.

Tarrago, an All-American at Cal in 2014 and 2015, scored Spain’s first goal against the United States in the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics, but it was not nearly enough in 14-5 loss to the USA in the championship match Saturday (late Friday night in California).

This was Tarrago’s third Olympics for Spain. She helped Spain to a silver medal in 2012, when Spain lost to the United States in the gold-medal game, falling 8-5. The Spaniards placed fifth in the 2016 Olympics.

In Saturday’s rematch of the 2012 gold-medal game, the 28-year-old Tarrago, who was born in Barcelona, scored with 2:15 left in the first quarter to cut Spain’s deficit to 2-1. But the Americans reeled off the next four goals to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

It was the third consecutive Olympic women's water polo gold medal for the Americans.

Roser Tarrago. Photo by Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

---Anna Illes, who was a teammate of Tarrago on the 2014 and 2017 Cal women’s water polo rosters, will take home a bronze medal after she scored perhaps the most important goal of the match in Hungary’s 11-9 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee squad in the third-place game that took place earlier Saturday (Friday in California).

The game was tied 9-9 when Illes scored her only goal of the game in an extra-player situation with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter. That gave Hungary a 10-9 lead, and it was the only score until Hungary scored an insurance goal with four seconds left.

---Rising Cal senior Kitty Lynn Joustra played 14 minutes but did not score for The Netherlands, which lost to Australia 14-7 in the fifth-place game.

---Emma Wright, who has one season of eligibility left at Cal, scored three goals in Canada’s 16-7 victory over China for seventh place.

Two other former Cal players also competed for Canada in that contest -- Kelly McKee, who scored a goal against China, and Kindred Paul, who played 16 minutes but did not score.

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Cover photo of Roser Tarrago by James Lang, USA TODAY Sports

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