Women's Water Polo Event In Rancho Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Come and see the best in women's water polo this week across Orange County. With players ranging from Laguna Beach to Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach to Newport, Orange County is representing with this four-game series.

The U.S. women's water polo team's four-game series of exhibition games Thursday evening at UC Irvine, fielding a roster that includes all 13 players who won the gold medal at the FINA World Championships in July.

The U.S. opponent Thursday evening is China, whose roster has 10 players from the team that finished 10th at the World Championships.

The teams will also meet Tuesday at Foothill High School in Tustin where recently retired two-time Olympic gold medalist Courtney Mathewson, an Orange County native, will be honored.

The U.S. will face the Netherlands Saturday at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita and Sunday at Loyola Marymount University.

The U.S. team includes six players from Orange County -- Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach); Aria Fischer and her older sister Makenzie Fischer (Laguna Beach); Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach); Bayley Weber (Los Alamitos); and Alys Williams (Huntington Beach).

Fattal, the Fischer sisters and Musselman were both members of the teams that won the world championship and the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Musselman was selected as the MVP of the World Championships.

Williams played on the world championship team. Weber is a senior at Los Alamitos High School who played on the U.S. team the finished second in the FINA Women's Intercontinental Tournament in May.

Goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson will be playing for the national team for the first time since the Rio Games.
The U.S. is 25-1 in 2017, including victories in each of its last 20 games. The U.S. is 2-0 against China in 2017.

Photo: Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images