July 22, 2007

Stanford alums Brenda Villa ('03) and Alison Gregorka ('07) and junior Jessica Steffens helped lead the US National Water Polo Team to the Gold Medal of the 2007 Pan American Games Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, clinching a berth in next summer's Olympic Games.

The US knocked off Canada, 6-4, behind two long range goals from Gregorka (Ann Arbor, MI). Her second, late in the fourth quarter, staked her team to a commanding 6-3 lead. Gregorka, one of the world's finest defender's, is rarely looked to for offensive production. But she showed her outside shooting touch, and the US is in the eight team women's water polo competition in Beijing.

Steffens (Danville, CA), also a defender, played a significant role as the team cruised to a 7-0 record in Rio, holding opponents to a paltry 4.1 goals per game. Rather than return to California with the rest of the team, Steffens will travel from Brazil to Porto, Portugal, for the FINA Junior World Championships, which begin Monday.

Villa, a Commerce, CA native and team captain, commented:

"I was confident enough that if we played a good game we'd qualify, but this gives us that much more time to prepare. You feed off the energy of your team. You look at the faces of the younger players and it gives you this new excitement for it, like you're starting this new journey all over again with 13 players."

Villa hopes to add an Olympic Gold Medal to her collection that includes a silver from Sydney 2000, the inaugural Olympics for women's water polo, and a bronze from 2004.