Maggie Steffens

Margaret Ann Steffens (born June 4, 1993) is an American water polo player. She won the gold medal with the United States in the 2012 Summer Olympics,[1] and in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2] She ranks second on the all-time scoring list in Olympic history, with 38 goals.[3]

Maggie Steffens
Personal information
Full nameMargaret Ann Steffens
NationalityAmerican
Born (1993-06-04) June 4, 1993
San Ramon, California
ResidenceDanville, California
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight165 lb (75 kg)
Sport
Country United States
SportWater polo
College teamStanford University
Medal record
Olympic Games
2012 LondonTeam
2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam
World Championships
2015 KazanTeam
2017 BudapestTeam
2019 GwangjuTeam
Pan American Games
2011 GuadalajaraTeam
2015 TorontoTeam
2019 LimaTeam
FINA World Cup
2010 Christchurch
2014 Khanty-Mansiysk
2018 Surgut
FINA World League
2010 La Jolla
2011 Tianjin
2012 Changshu
2014 Kunshan
2015 Shanghai
2016 Shanghai
2017 Shanghai
2018 Kunshan
2019 Budapest
2013 Beijing
Updated on August 10, 2019.

Early career

Steffens played water polo at Monte Vista High School and helped the team win their league championship in 2007, 2008, and 2009.[4][5] She also played for Diablo Water Polo in Alamo, California.[6]

College career

Steffens attended Stanford University, playing on the women's water polo team from 2013 to 2017. Steffens lead the team to NCAA championships in 2014, 2015, and 2017, and to second-place finishes in 2013 and 2016.

In 2015, Steffens scored four goals in the semifinal game against USC, which Stanford won, 9-8. In 2017, she scored three goals in Stanford's 8-7 championship victory against UCLA, including the winning goal with 9 seconds left. In 2015 and again in 2017 she was named the MVP of the NCAA tournament.[7][8][9][10]

Steffens graduated from Stanford in June, 2017 with a B.S. degree in Science, Technology, and Society. [11]

International career

Her first international appearance was at the 2009 FINA Junior Women’s World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, finishing in the third place.[12]

Steffens also made her senior debut at the age of 16, at the 10th Holiday Cup in Newport Beach, California, from December 9 to 13, 2009, where she scored twice.[13]

Steffens played on the United States national water polo team which won the 2010 FINA World League Super Final and the 2010 FINA World Cup. She scored the winning goal against Australia in the final match of the FINA World League Super Final.[4]

In 2011, Steffens helped the U.S. win the 2011 FINA World League Super Final again. In the Pan American Games, she scored the winning goal in the shootout of the final match, as the U.S. defeated Canada.[4]

The U.S. won the FINA World League Super Final for the third straight year in 2012, and Steffens led the team with 11 goals.[4] In the first match of the Summer Olympics, Steffens scored seven goals to tie the Olympic single-game record.[14] She scored 21 total goals in the Olympics, which set a new Olympic record for most goals scored in a women's water polo tournament, as the U.S. won the gold medal.[15][1] She was named the Best Female Water Polo Player of 2012 by FINA and the 2012 female Water Polo Player of the Year by Swimming World Magazine.[16][17]

Steffens was the top goalscorer at the 2016 Olympics with 17 goals, as the U.S. again won the gold medal.[18]

Club career

In January 2018, Steffens signed contract with Hungarian professional club UVSE from Budapest.[19] On May 10, 2017, she won the Hungarian Championship.

In the summer of 2018, she transferred to Spanish Club Natació Sabadell winning three titles: Spanish Cup, Spanish Championship and LEN Euro League.[20]

Personal life

Steffens was born in San Ramon, California to Peggy Schnugg and Carlos Steffens. She is the youngest of four children (Jessica, Charlie and Teresa). Her father, a native of Puerto Rico, became interested in the sport of water polo after witnessing a match as a child in Puerto Rico. He played for Puerto Rico in three Pan American Games. Her father left the island and joined the water polo team of Berkeley, University of California where he became a three-time All-American, leading the California Golden Bears to the 1977 NCAA championship.[21][22][23] In 1979, he was the PAC-10 player of the year in water polo.[24]

Maggie Steffens lives in Danville, California. She became interested and was influenced in the sport of water polo mainly by her father and sister, Jessica Steffens, who is also on the United States national team.[4]

Steffens became an advisor to women's sports website Just Women's Sports in 2020[25]. She said her goal in working with the company was to increase the awareness of the number of female role models in sports.

gollark: Just buy one of those 64-core Epycs.
gollark: Where is that from anyway? Almost nobody offers ARM servers.
gollark: What of your mysterious ARM server?
gollark: You wrote Macron and lied though.
gollark: Macron's parser is Macron.

See also

References
  1. "Olympics: Danville's Maggie Steffens scores five goals as U.S. water polo team captures first-ever gold medal". mercurynews.com. August 9, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  2. "Rio Olympics 2016: U.S. women earn water polo gold medal". dailynews.com. Jeff Miller. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  3. "Maggie Steffens". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  4. "Maggie Steffens". usawaterpolo.org. Retrieved August 9, 2012. Archived August 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Maggie Steffens". teamusa.org. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  6. "Maggie Steffens". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  7. "Maggie Steffens". Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  8. "Women's Water Polo History". Retrieved May 20, 2017
  9. "2015 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship". Retrieved May 20, 2017
  10. "Stanford Wins its Sixth". Retrieved May 20, 2017
  12. "2009 FINA Junior Women’s World Championships" waterpoloplanet.com August 15, 2009.
  13. "Team USA Downs Italy 8-2 On Night Two Of Holiday Cup" usawaterpolo.org December 10, 2009.
  14. "Steffens ties Olympic water polo scoring record". paloaltoonline.com. July 30, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  15. "Official Results Book – 2012 Olympic Games – Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. p. 345. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  16. "FINA Names Maggie Steffens Best Female Water Polo Player Of 2012" Archived 2013-01-20 at the Wayback Machine. usawaterpolo.org. January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  17. "Now Available December Swimming World Magazine Names Water Polo Players of the Year". swimmingworldmagazine.com. December 8, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  18. "Official Results Book – 2016 Olympic Games – Water Polo" (PDF). olympic.org. IOC. p. 193. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  19. Pinelli, Brian (2018-05-04). "An American Water Polo Star Tries to Conquer Something New: Hungary". The New York Times.
  20. "Sabadell's 5-0 resurrection earns them the trophy and Easter joy". LEN.eu. April 20, 2019.
  21. San Jose Mercury News
  22. FOR THE STEFFENS, WATER POLO IS A FAMILY AFFAIR, ESPN
  23. Steffens Family Legacy
  24. Seven Bay Area players selected to U.S. women's Olympic water polo team
  25. Rosen, Haley. "Maggie Steffens on role models, media, and JWS". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
Awards
Preceded by
Alexandra Asimaki
Jennifer Pareja		 FINA Water Polo Player of the Year
2012
2014		 Succeeded by
Jennifer Pareja
Incumbent
Preceded by
Krystina Alogbo		 World Water Polo Player of the Year
2012		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.