BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — USA Water Polo Women’s National Team head coach Adam Krikorian announced the competition roster for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final set for November 2-6 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
In their first tournament since winning gold at the FINA World Championship earlier this summer in Hungary, Team USA will look to secure their eighth straight World League crown.
The competition opens on November 2 when Team USA meets the Netherlands at 12:40 a.m. Pacific/3:40 a.m. Eastern. The United States will face Canada and Italy in group play. A champion is crowned on November 6.
Prior to their arrival in Spain, Team USA will spend time training with the Netherlands National Team in Zeist, the Netherlands, taking part in an official match in Utrecht on October 28 at 7:30pm local time/10:30 a.m. Pacific/1:30 p.m. Eastern.
A pair of Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) graduates will be on the United States playing/coaching roster as Princeton University alumna/two-time Olympic Gold Medalist goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson returns to the cage, while former University of Pennsylvania men’s collegiate club athlete and coach Chris Lee will once again serve as Team USA’s Video Coordinator.
About Ashleigh Johnson: A 2017 Princeton University alumna, Johnson competed for Ethnikos of the Greek league this year and is among only two Tigers’ athletes ever to win an Olympic gold medal (in 2016 and 2021) and then come back to compete at Princeton (former United States Senator/men’s basketball player Bill Bradley was the other).
Johnson – who anchored the United States to the 2022/19th FINA World Championship earlier this year, was the recipient of the C. Otto von Kienbusch and Cutino Awards during her senior season in 2017. Further, she became the first player in Princeton women’s water polo history to be named first team All-America and third ever to be selected All-America in each of her four seasons. Johnson finished her Princeton career with a 100-17 record, along with a school-record 1,362 saves and a .693 save percentage. She was a 19-time CWPA Defensive Player of the Week award winner, a four-time first-team all-conference player and the CWPA Player of the Year.
About Chris Lee: The head coach of the United States women’s beach water polo team which swept through the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, the University of Pennsylvania graduate has experience on the collegiate club, varsity and national team levels.
No stranger to the collegiate game, Lee served as an assistant coach at the University of California in Berkeley, Calif., prior to joining the UCLA women’s staff for a run from 2018-to-2021.
Over five years and two stints at Cal, Lee helped the Golden Bears to four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Water Polo Championships semifinal-round appearances. Individually, players from those teams accounted for 43 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-Academic Awards and 31 All-America nods.
A veteran of the Southern California water polo scene, Lee guided the men’s and women’s teams at Occidental College (2015, 2016) between stints with the Golden Bears. He also turned in three seasons each with the Pomona-Pitzer College men’s (2009-2011) and women’s squads (2010-12), helping the Sagehens to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championships on both sides.
Lee entered the world of coaching at Penn in 2000, when he took over the women’s collegiate club water polo team as an undergraduate student. Eight seasons (2000-04, 2005-08) later, the Quakers had claimed four Mid-Atlantic Division championships (including the program’s first in 2004) and made Lee the division’s Coach of the Year four times. For good measure, Lee took over the men’s side in 2006 and did not miss a beat, helping his alma mater to a Mid-Atlantic title in 2007 and earning Coach of the Year honors in 2006 and 2007.
Also a veteran of international competition, Lee served the United States Women’s Senior National Team since 2011 in various roles. As a video analyst, he operated at head coach Adam Krikorian’s right hand on the way to gold medals at the 2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020/21 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Further, Lee oversaw the growth of up-and-coming youth in the sport with the Olympic Development Program and as an assistant coach for the USA Women’s Cadet National Team (2011-15), which claimed gold at the 2015 Junior Pan American Games in Kingston, Jamaica.
FINA World League Super Final Roster (Hometown/College/USAWP Club)
1. Ashleigh Johnson (Miami, FL/Princeton/NYAC)
2. Emily Ausmus (Riverside, CA/ML King HS/SOCAL)
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. Hannah Shabb (Seatle, WA/Stanford/Seattle Water Polo)
7. Jewel Roemer (Martinez, CA/Stanford/680 Water Polo)
8. Ryann Neushul (Goleta, CA/Stanford/Santa Barbara 805)
9. Denise Mammolito (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/USC/CHAWP)
10. Ella Woodhead (San Anselmo, CA/Stanford/SHAQ/Stanford)
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)
14. Jenna Flynn (San Jose, CA/Stanford/San Jose/Almaden Water Polo)
Water Polo National Team Staff
Head Coach: Adam Krikorian
Assistant Coaches: Molly Cahill and Ethan Damato
Team Manager: Lori Verdegaal
Sports Medicine Manager: Larnie Boquiren
Video Coordinator: Chris Lee
FINA World League Super Final Schedule
* November 2 vs. Netherlands (12:40 a.m. Pacific/3:40 a.m. Eastern)
* November 3 vs. Canada (12:40 a.m. Pacific/3:40 a.m. Eastern)
* November 4 vs. Italy (4:00 a.m. Pacific/7:00 a.m. Eastern)
* November 5 vs. TBD (Semifinals)
* November 6 vs. TBD (Finals)
