Olympic gold medalist Paige Hauschild is back in the fold with the USA Water Polo Women’s National Team.
Hauschild, a member of the gold-medal winning USA squad at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, rejoined the national team and was selected to the roster for the upcoming World Aquatics World Cup Division 1 Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, May 1-6.
She will be joined by three more Santa Barbarans —Lucy Haaland-Ford, Ava Stryker and Ryann Neushul — on coach Adam Krikorian’s 16-player squad. Neushul played in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Team USA placed fourth.
The current senior team features 10 Olympians in total. Rachel Fattal is the veteran as a three-time Olympian, while goalkeeper Amanda Longan has played in two Olympics.
After winning gold in Tokyo, Hauschild returned to USC and completed her final two years of college. She entered the working world but the desire to play again drew her back into the sport. She’s been playing on a pro team in Spain.
“I took a job straight out of college which I was super excited about, but ultimately I did miss the team, did miss water polo,” she told USA Water Polo. “I felt like I still had more to give to this program and my teammates, so I decided to come back, and it’s been fun so far.”
Hauschild said she’s excited to reunite with Neushul on the senior team. The two started playing the sport together with the Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo Club.
Stryker returns to the senior team after making her debut at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. She scored 10 goals in the tournament, where Team USA placed fourth.
Haaland-Ford gets her first senior team call-up. Last summer, she played on the USA Junior National Team that won the World Aquatics U20 World Championship. She scored four goals in the second half of a 16-15 win over Spain for the gold medal.
Hauschild, Stryker and Haaland Ford are alums of San Marcos High; Neushul graduated from Dos Pueblos. Stryker and Haaland Ford play collegiately at USC and Stanford, respectively, and both will be playing in the NCAA Tournament next week at UC San Diego.
2026 World Aquatics World Cup Division 1 Tournament Roster (14 athletes to be selected prior to each match)
Emily Ausmus (Riverside, CA/USC/NYAC)
Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC)
Jenna Flynn (San Jose, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
Rachel Gazzaniga (North Tustin, CA/USC/NYAC)
Lucy Haaland-Ford (Santa Barbara, CA/Stanford/Santa Barbara WPC)
Paige Hauschild (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/Mataro)
Emma Lineback (Laguna Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC)
Amanda Longan (Moorpark, CA/USC/NYAC)
Ryann Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/NYAC)
Tara Prentice (Temecula, CA/UC Irvine/NYAC/Sabadell)
Jordan Raney (Manhattan Beach, CA/Stanford/NYAC/Ethnikos)
Jewel Roemer (Martinez, CA/Stanford/NYAC/Mataro)
Jovana Sekulic (Belgrade, Serbia/Princeton/NYAC/Olympiacos)
Ava Stryker (Santa Barbara, CA/USC/NYAC)
Isabel Williams (Severna Park, MD/California/NYAC/Sabadell)
Ella Woodhead (San Rafael, CA/Stanford/The Olympic Club)
Head Coach – Adam Krikorian
Assistants – Natalie Benson, Molly Cahill, Dan Klatt, and Chris Oeding
Team Manager – Ally Beck
Sports Medicine Manager – Larnie Boquiren
