U.S. Men’s, Women’s Water Polo Teams Announce June Exhibitions in California
The U.S. men’s and women’s water polo teams on Tuesday announced five matches to be played in California in June ahead of this summer’s international calendar.
The American men will play three games at three locations against Australia on June 8, 11 and 13, their first games stateside since winning bronze at the Paris Olympics last summer. It’ll be a rematch of their penalty shootout affair in the quarterfinals in Paris, a result the U.S. won to reach the medals and nudge Australia to eighth place.
The U.S. women will host Spain on June 20 and 22. The June 20 game will include a retirement celebration for Makenzie Fischer and Aria Fischer. Spain defeated the U.S. in Group B of the Olympics, Spain going on to top Australia for gold after the Aussies bested the U.S. in a shootout in the semifinals. The three-time reigning gold medalist Americans finished fourth at the Olympics.
All five matches will stream LIVE on Overnght.com with LIVE stats at 6-8Sports.com. Tickets are available via USA Water Polo.
The games serve as prep for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, which begin July 12.
The game is also a chance to honor one of American water polo’s most prominent families. Both Fischer sisters were on the United States’ gold-medal winning teams at the 2016 Rio Olympics and in Tokyo in 2021. Makenzie won three World Championships (2015, 2017, 2019) as well as the 2019 Pan Am Games gold. Fisher was part of the last two Worlds teams, the 2019 Pan Ams squad and the 2017 World University Games gold medalist.
Both won three NCAA titles at Stanford, Makenzie in 2017, 2019 and 2022; Aria in 2019, 2022 and 2023. Makenzie was the MVP of the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2022, winning the Cutino Award as the nation’s top player both years. Ara won the Cutino Award in 2023, the year she was the MVP of the NCAA Tournament. She was four times an All-American and named all four years to the NCAA All-Tournament team. Makenzie is 28 years old, Aria 26.
(all times PT)
U.S. Men vs. Australia
- June 8: Mt. San Antonio College, 1 p.m.
- June 11: JSerra Catholic H.S., 7
- June 13: Chapman University, 7
U.S. Women vs. Spain
- June 20: William Woollett Aquatics Center, 7
- June 22: Long Beach City College, 1