BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Indiana University alumnae Jessica Gaudreault and Shae (Fournier) La Roche were named to the Team Canada roster for the 19th FINA World Championships in Hungary, on June 18 to July 3.
The Canadian women, who finished fourth in Budapest in 2017 and ninth in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019, earned their ticket to the Hungarian capital in 2022 thanks to a Seventh place finish at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
This is the 15th time the women’s team has competed at the FINA World Championships since 1986. The team has competed at each world aquatic championship since their inception. Canada’s medal record in the women’s event includes pairs of silver and bronze medals, the last one being a silver in 2009.
The Canadian women’s team opens the tournament on Monday, June 20, against Italy at 1:30 pm Eastern.
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.
She had an impressive junior international career, winning gold medals at the 2008 and 2010 Pan American Junior Championships to go with a sixth place finish at the 2009 FINA World Junior Championships. At the senior level, she competed in two FINA World Championships (2015, 2017) and captured a silver medal at the 2017 FINA World League Super Final. She also helped Canada win silver at the 2015 Pan American Games. She has made two appearances at the Summer Universiade, just missing the podium with fourth place finishes in both 2009 and 2013. She made her senior international debut in 2014, competing in the FINA Water Polo World League.
A 2019 graduate of Indiana, Gaudreault rejoins the Canadian National Team after serving as an assistant coach for the University of Michigan women’s water polo team and on the coaching staff for Capital Wave Swim and Water Polo club in her native Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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. Gaudreault earned the title of Most Valuable Goalkeeper at the 2017 World League Super Final, and was captain of the team during the 2019 circuit that included the World League Super Final in Budapest, Hungary, the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, and the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.
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.
During the Summer of 2021, the duo helped lead Canada – which qualified for its inaugural women’s water polo Olympic appearance since 2004 via a silver medal at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games – to a Seventh Place finish at the Tokyo Olympics contested at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center.
