Santa Barbara will again be represented on the USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team in a major international tournament.
Ryann Neushul has been selected to the Team USA roster for the upcoming FINA World Championships in Hungary. She follows her sisters Jamie and Kylie along with Paige Hauschild, Kami Craig and Sami Hill as U.S. team members from Santa Barbara who competed at the World Championships. Those five all won gold medals at the worlds and at the Olympic Games.
Ryann joins the U.S. squad after helping Stanford win the NCAA Championship in May. She is one of five players who will be making their World Championships debut; the others are Tara Prentice, Ava Johnson, Denise Mammolito and Bayley Weber.
Stanford’s Jewel Roemer, who played a season at Dos Pueblos, is an alternate along with high schooler Emily Ausmus (Riverside ML King).
Ryann Neushul trained with the national team prior to the Tokyo Olympics and has played with the squad in international events.
The Team USA roster features seven returners from the Tokyo Olympic Games gold medal-winning squad and eight returning World Champions, led by captain Maggie Steffens. Steffens is joined by fellow returners Ashleigh Johnson, Maddie Musselman, Rachel Fattal, Stephania Haralabidis, Kaleigh Gilchrist, Amanda Longan and Jordan Raney.
Team USA has won the last three World Championships (2015, 2017 and 2019) and six total in program history, adding gold medals in 2003, 2007 and 2009.
The team coaching staff also has a Santa Barbara tie. Molly Cahill, a Santa Barbara High alum, is one of the assistant coaches for head coach Adam Krikorian.
The United States will open play on June 20 against South Africa before meeting the Netherlands and Argentina to close out Group B action.
Live streaming of all the games will be available on the FINA Facebook page at facebook.com/fina1908.
2022 FINA World Championship Roster (Hometown/College/USAWP Club)
1 Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC)*
2 Maddie Musselman (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/NYAC)*
3 Tara Prentice (Temecula, CA/UC Irvine/SOCAL)
4 Rachel Fattal (Seal Beach, CA/UCLA/SOCAL)*
5 Ava Johnson (Walnut Creek, CA/UCLA/680 Water Polo)
6 Maggie Steffens (Danville, CA/Stanford/NYAC)*
7 Stephania Haralabidis (Athens, Greece/USC/NYAC)*
8 Ryann Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/Santa Barbara 805)
9 Denise Mammolito (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/USC/CHAWP)
10 Kaleigh Gilchrist (Newport Beach, CA/USC/NYAC)*
11 Bayley Weber (Los Alamitos, CA/USC/SET)
12 Jordan Raney (Manhattan Beach, CA/Stanford/Huntington Beach WPF)
13 Amanda Longan (Moorpark, CA/USC/Santa Barbara 805)*
*2020 Tokyo Olympic Champion
Alternates
Emily Ausmus (Riverside, CA/ML King HS/SOCAL)
Jewel Roemer (Martinez, CA/Stanford/680 Water Polo)
Water Polo National Team Staff
Head Coach: Adam Krikorian
Assistant Coaches: Molly Cahill and Nicolle Payne
Team Manager: Lori Verdegaal
Sports Medicine Manager: Larnie Boquiren
Video Coordinator: Chris Lee
2022 FINA World Championship Schedule
June 20 vs South Africa 9:00am pt
June 22 vs the Netherlands 10:30am pt
June 24 vs Argentina 9:00am pt
June 26 vs TBD (crossover round)
June 28 vs TBD (quarterfinals)
June 30 vs TBD (semifinals)
July 2 vs TBD (finals)