Bronwen Knox

Armstrong & Knox to Clash as USA Meets Australia in Olympic Semifinals

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Two former Collegiate Water Polo Association stars will meet in the next round of the Olympic tournament as 2008 CWPA Hall of Fame inductee Betsey Armstrong and Team USA will clash with Bronwen Knox and Team Australia in the semi-finals at 2:20 pm Beijing time on Tuesday, August 19 at the Ying Tung Natatorium.

The match is set by virtue of the United States winning Group A while Australia knocked off China 12-11.

Australia and the United States will have met in every Olympic Games thus far containing women's water polo. In 2000 in Sydney, they met for the Gold Medal in an Australia victory, and for the Bronze at the 2004 Games in Athens, a United States triumph.

Among the leading scorers in international play this year, Knox attended Hartwick College from the fall of 2004 through the spring of 2006. During two seasons of Division I water polo, Knox scored 229 goals (No. 2 on the all-time list), including a nation-leading 127 goals in 2006 in captaining the Hawks to the CWPA Eastern Championship and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. She also received All-Academic honors that year. In the summer of 2006, she returned to her home country to train with the national team, and is currently enrolled at Griffith University, where she is studying biomedical science.

A member of the Australia National Team since 2005, Knox helped the Aussies to a silver medal at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Armstrong, who was inducted into the CWPA Hall of Fame this spring in her hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was a standout goalie for the University of Michigan. 

She spent four seasons tending the cage for Wolverines, leading Michigan to four division titles and two NCAA tournament appearances, including a sixth-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Championship. She wrapped up her U-M career as the program leader in blocks (1,267), minutes (3,329), goals against average (5.64) and save percentage (.654). She also holds the top four Michigan single-season blocks totals and three of the top five spots on the single-season save percentage and GAA lists.

During her career with the Maize and Blue, Armstrong racked up a pair of division Most Valuable Player accolades (2003-04) and four CWPA All-Division First Team honors (2002-05). Armstrong excelled at the Eastern Championship, earning two MVP honors (2003, '05) as part of three All-Eastern Championship first team nominations (2002, 2004-05). On the national level, she earned All-America recognition in each season, making the second team in 2004, third team in 2005 and honorable mention in her first two campaigns at Michigan.

In May 2006, she earned a spot on the USA National Team following an open tryout. In just under two years with the squad, Armstrong has led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2007  Pan American Games -- securing the country's spot at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China -- and gold medal victories in both the FINA World League and FINA World Championships. At the World Championships, Armstrong was recognized as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Goalkeeper.

This will not mark the first time the two former CWPA standouts have met this year as the United States, which continues its streak of having reached the medal round in every major tournament since the 2000 Olympics, will take on Australia for the 12th time in 2008. Currently the Aussies hold a record of 5-4-2.

Most recently the two squads met for a four game set in Southern and Northern California between July 4 and July 10. The United States claimed a victory 13-12 on July 4 in Los Alamitos, CA. Australia was victorious on a last second penalty goal 12-11 on July 6 in La Jolla, CA. Team USA came back with a 12-6 victory on July 8 in Coronado, CA. Finally in their last and most recent match the United States were victorious 7-5 at a sold-out Stanford University on July 10 in Stanford, CA.

Prior to that series the two met at the FINA World League Super Final in Spain where the United States defeated Australia for the first time in 2008 with a score of 10-9. Before that the two teams played in Beijing in March at the Good Luck Beijing Water Polo Open with Australia claiming a 7-6 victory. Finally, to start off 2008 the two teams gathered in January in Australia for common training and a five game set which the Australians either won or tied in every match. The two teams tied 8-8 on January 9 in Perth, Australia and then Australia won 13-11 on January 10 in Perth. Australia won again 10-8 on January 12 in Sydney, the two teams played to a 6-6 draw in Sydney on January 14, and then Australia defeated the United States 11-9 in Sydney on January 15 in Sydney.

Also of note the two teams met to decide the Gold Medal at the 2007 FINA World League Super Final in July in Montreal and the 2007 FINA World Championships in March in Melbourne, both victories for the United States.

2008 Matches
January 9 - 8-8 Tie
January 10 - Australia Wins 13-11
January 12 - Australia Wins 10-8
January 14 - 6-6 Tie
January 15 - Australia Wins 11-9
March - Australia Wins 7-6
June 10 - USA Wins 10-9
July 4 - USA Wins 13-12
July 6 - Australia Wins 12-11
July 8 - USA Wins 12-6
July 10 - USA Wins 7-5