MGoBlue.com: Ten to Watch Two Years Out From Tokyo 2020
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Rising junior Maddy Steere (Pascoe Vale, Australia/St. Catherine’s School) of the three-time defending Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion University of Michigan women’s water polo team is among a list of 10 athletes to watch for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo compiled by the Wolverines’ Associate Director of Athletics Communications Brad Rudner on MGoBlue.com.
Steere’s bio in the article states: “She almost went to Rio, but was one of Australia’s final roster cuts. Two years into her career at Michigan, she keeps improving, going from 51 goals in 2017 to 74 in 2018. Steere has spent a good chunk of this summer playing with the Australian National Team, and it would hardly be surprising to see her suit up in Tokyo.”
A 5-11 utility player, she has been inarguably among the best players in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s water polo over the past two seasons. As a freshman in 2017, she compiled 51 goals, 49 assists, 100 points, 14 drawn exclusions, 45 steals and eight field blocks in 37 games to claim CWPA All-Conference First Team, All-CWPA Championship All-Tournament First Team and Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America Honorable Mention status in helping the Wolverines repeat as league champions. She added to her legacy in 2018 by racking up 74 goals, 34 assists, 108 points, 50 drawn exclusions, 47 steals and 18 field blocks in 41 games to repeat as CWPA All-Conference First Team and All-CWPA Championship First Team selections. Further, she notched ACWPC All-America Third Team recognition.
In 78 career games in the Maize & Blue, she has 125 goals, 83 assists, 208 points, 64 drawn exclusions, 92 steals and 26 field blocks as Steere is averaging 1.60 goals, 1.06 assists and 2.67 points per game.
Away from Ann Arbor, Mich., she helped lead the Australian national team to an Eighth Place finish at the 2017 FINA World Championship in Budapest, Hungary and aided the squad’s cause in notching a Seventh Place mark at the 2017 FINA World League Super Final in Shanghai, China.
A member of the gold medal Australia team at the 2015 World University Games in South Korea, she also competed for the Junior Women’s World Championship team in Volos, Greece in 2015.
The recipient of a gold medal at the Intercontinental Cup in 2014, she served as team captain of the Youth Women’s World Championship team in Madrid, Spain, and was named the Australia Water Polo Junior Athlete of the Year in 2014.
Further, she captained the 2015 Australia U-18 National Team, won a silver medal at the 2013 Canada Cup and served as captain of the U-16 National Team in 2012 that won a silver medal at the Pan Pacific Games.
