East Bay's Maggie Steffens, Melissa Seidemann​ Claim Gold In Peru

DANVILLE, CA — It was a blowout Saturday when the U.S. Women's National Water Polo Team defeated Canada 24-4 to claim gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

No surprise that Danville's Maggie Steffens helped bring on the victory. She got things started with a goal in the opening 30 seconds of the match, and then added another one just two minutes later for an early 2-0 lead. In total, she scored four goals during the weekend's championship.

Other top U.S. scorers included Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach, CA/Stanford/SET) with six, and four from Stephania Haralabidis (Athens, Greece/USC/NYAC).

Besides Steffens, another local player was in the water Saturday. Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek, CA/Stanford/NYAC) scored one goal in the first period, which ended with the U.S. taking a commanding 6-1 lead. Team USA was up 13-3 at halftime, and there was no looking back. The team finished play in Peru 6-0 outscoring opponents by an impressive margin, 142-24.

Saturday's victory marked the 59th straight win for Team USA and fifth straight Pan American Games title.

Last month, Team USA defeated Spain to win the 2019 FINA World Championship in Gwangju, South Korea. The team has qualified to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

The USA Men's National Water Polo Team was also victorious during the Pan Am Games. The team defeated Canada 18-6 in the championship, and in the process qualified for the 2020 Olympics.

Your 2019 Pan American Games Women's Water Polo Champions!@TeamUSA

The" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?re... USA Women defeated Canada 24-4 in the final for their 59th straight victory! #Lima2019 #AllGoldEverything

Photo" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/hashtag/Al... by Mariana Bazo pic.twitter.com/vVeI0iAf5M
— USA Water Polo (@USAWP) August" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/USAWP/stat... 10, 2019

Click here for more on the women's Pan Am Games Championship.