BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Indiana University alumnae Jessica Gaudreault and Shae (Fournier) La Roche were named to the Team Canada roster for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships to be held on July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan. The event marks the first opportunity to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
La Roche – who competed for Canada at the Tokyo 2020 games – and Gaudreault will seek to help Canada earn a spot among the 10 teams in the Olympic women’s tournament during the next year by either:
1. Reaching the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships;
2. Or win gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, or the silver medal if another country from the Americas reaches the final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships;
3. Or finish among the top two teams on the women’s side, or the top four teams on the men’s side, at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, February 2-18, among those that have not already qualified for the Olympic Games.
A 2014 graduate of Indiana, La Roche (2011-2014) is one of the most decorated players in Hoosiers’ water polo history. She holds the top two school records for single-season goals (95 in 2014, 83 in 2013) and career goals (305), and is second in IU history in career steals (311). She was the 2014 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Player of the Year, and earned second team Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America and College Sport Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First-Team Academic All-America honors. La Roche is one of five players in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history to score 300 or more goals in her career.
The Most Valuable Player of the 2014 CWPA Championship hosted by Bucknell University for leading the Hoosiers to an 11-10 victory over Princeton University, La Roche is among a select group of Indiana women’s water polo players who won a pair of league titles during their tenure. In 2011 as a freshman, La Roche helped her squad down the University of Michigan, 5-3, at home in Bloomington for the program’s first title since taking home the 2003 crown.
A 2019 graduate of Indiana, Gaudreault has competed at an elite international level, including multiple World Championships and Pan Am games for Team Canada, and served as an alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Canadian had a decorated career with the Hoosiers, graduating with the second-most saves (995) and shots faced (2,182) in program history. Gaudreault was an honorable mention ACWPC All-America as a senior as well as a four-time CWPA All-Conference First Team member.
