Trailblazing Stingers coach Bec Rippon gathered her thoughts and leant forward to the Australian women who had fought back against the might of the United States with such distinction in the Olympics water polo semi-final on Thursday night.

There was 22 seconds left on the clock. The Australians had slipped behind, rallied in the third term, and now had an opportunity to win the match. It was time to deliver some words of wisdom.

“It is 8-all in the Olympics semi-final. This is the moment,” she declared.

The USA was going for its fourth gold medal in succession. It had denied the Australians in Athens in a quarterfinal. In Beijing and London, it was the Americans who also ended their golden dreams in the semifinals. But this time, surely, it would be different.

Prior to the match, the Australian coach instructed the Stingers to write down everything they feared about the USA. Given their dominance of the Olympics, and the recent streak of seven successive wins against the Aussies, some lengthy essays were likely penned.

She then told them to burn the notes. Those fears were now ashes. Now America’s hopes of a fourth straight Olympics gold are as well.

The Aussies did not strike in the subsequent passage of play. But the calmness and conviction of Rippon’s message resonated with them, as it had throughout what has been a challenging Olympics. And when it came to the penalty shootout, Australia believed in itself.

It had already progressed through two penalty shoot outs in Paris against Hungary and the Netherlands. Surely it would be a case of third-time lucky as well, both in shoot outs, but also when it came to playing the USA in a semi-final. And so it proved in a 14-13 triumph.

American coach Adam Krikorian, who had led the USA to a threepeat of Olympic gold medals, praised the Stingers resilience.

“This is the reality of life though. You don’t stand on top of the podium every single time,” he said.

“We lost to the better team today. Honestly, the Australians were so good, so resilient, so tough mentally and defensively.”

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PAST AS A NEW STAR RISES

In a globetrotting career still very much in its infancy, Australian water polo star Abby Andrews has followed a simple mantra that proved critical to her ability to steer the Stingers into a gold medal match at the Olympics for the first time in 24 years.

“Take every opportunity and challenge,” Andrews said in a profile published leading into Paris 2024.

It has taken her from the University of Queensland to a starring role for the University of Michigan, helped her break into the Australian team prior to the Tokyo Olympics and then into a professional career playing in Italy.

Most importantly, this attitude helped drag Australia over the line in the thrilling penalty shoot out.

The Australians looked in significant trouble against the United States before the left-handed Andrews rocketed four goals past the tournament favourites in the third term to close the gap to just one leading into the final change.

“We knew we’d have our opportunities,” Andrews said.

“Early on in that quarter, I looked up and I didn’t think (the American goalkeeper) was honouring me fully, so I took a shot and it went in. Then I did that a few more times, and they all went in.”

Earlier in the year, Australia had shown what it was capable of when pitted against America in a quarterfinal of the World Championships in Doha when, after falling behind 8-3 at three-quarter time, they surged late to fall short by only one goal.

They had been beaten. But there was a key lesson stemming from the defeat.

They had the ability to finish over the top of the USA and just needed to be close enough to do so at the death, which is what unfolded in Paris during a superb second half sparked by the southpaw.

THE DAUGHTER OF A DEAD—SET LEGEND WITH DEAD—EYE ACCURACY COMES TO THE FORE

With the pressure on, other Stingers came to the fore. Bronte Halligan, a daughter of NRL legend Daryl Halligan, was unfortunate to miss selection for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics eight years ago and vowed to seize every chance from then on.

Her dad Daryl Halligan, a Kiwi star who represented North Sydney and the Cantebury Bulldogs with distinction in the 1990s, was renowned for his accuracy as a goal kicker in the NRL. His 27-year-old daughter is a chip off the old block, it seems.

Halligan delivered in style in the last quarter with two big goals to tie the match in the last quarter leading into Rippon’s address.

“I was four years old when they were last in the gold medal game, so it’s been a long time coming and I’m just so proud of the work that this entire program has put in to get us here,” she said.

“It’s not just the 13 here, but it’s everyone back home, all the girls that have built this, all the young girls that are watching. I hope that we’re inspiring them for a next generation to come through because that’s what the Sydney girls did for an entire generation now. Hopefully we’re doing the same.”

Just as Andrews had passed the baton to her at three-quarter time, Halligan passed onto a Stinger with the sharpest of reflexes.

Playing on the last line of defence, goal keeper Gabi Palm was identified as a star of the future after minding the net with the wariness of a prison warder in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo. With a turnover in the team after Tokyo, Palm emerged as a leader.

Heading into the Paris Olympics, Palm said she was excited with the development in the Australian team — gold medallists in Sydney when the sport was first introduced into the Olympics — and felt the Stingers were “gaining momentum” at the right time.

But in order to continue that momentum through to the gold medal match, she needed to become a brick wall.

Against a team as talented as the Americans, it proved a tall order, but in the dying stages she saved a couple of desperate attempts amid her 13 blocks overall as the Stingers forced a penalty shootout.

Then, with the shootout reaching sudden-death and Australia leading 6-5, she denied Maddie Musselman with a match-winning save.

In emotional scenes, the Stingers were in tears as friends and family members hugged in the stands of a stadium where Australia’s golden generation of swimmers Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan starred last week.

Palm told News Corp Australia she was “freaking lassoing” in her excitement after what proved to be “an incredible” triumph.

“It was a bit of a moment because she had already shot two on me in the game and so I was really trying to stay on my line, watch the ball, see where she was going to go and just react to it,” Palm later told the Nine Network.

“When I actually touched the ball, it was going through my head that I had touched that and I thought, ‘What does that mean?’. But I knew that it meant we won … and then everyone was jumping around. It was such a chaotic few seconds.”

A RIPPER OF A PERFORMANCE FROM RIPPON

Andrews was not the only Aussie with a mantra to follow. Rippon, who is the first woman to hold the senior coaching role and watched from the stands as a 21-year-old when Australia won gold in Sydney, has another. Trust people to do their job and stay calm. Be Brave.

She produced a masterful tactical move in the shoot out, deciding to alternate keepers, with Palmer taking one shot and secondary goalkeeper Genevieve Longman the next which meant the USA had a “different person to look at” and could not settle.

Rippon, of course, has form in being brave. She scored a critical goal in a match against Hungary in Beijing in 2008 that clinched a bronze medal for Australia, which is among the highlights from her 265-game career.

The Stingers delivered with distinction to book a spot against Spain, which edged the Netherlands 19-18 in another penalty shoot out, to ensure they will win a medal for the first time since earning a bronze in London 12 years ago.

“We’ve been away for seven weeks and we’ve talked about how we get through to be on our absolute best every game day, every single time, and it’s about not sweating the small stuff,” she said.

“I just trusted everyone to do their job. I said we just need to do what we can do and stay really calm and enjoy every single moment of it — the good, the bad and the ugly — just stay calm.”

Despite the enormity of the occasion, the reputation and resumes of their rivals, and the tension that rose the tighter the match became, the Stingers did exactly that. And just like Andrews, when the opportunity arose, they swooped with a stinger.

NOW FOR A SATURDAY NIGHT DATE WITH SPAIN

An opportunity for gold awaits. But there was good reason to celebrate before recalibrating given the magnitude of the victory.

Palm joked that she hoped to be able to unearth a “beer or two” in the ice bath she was about to hit to begin her recovery session.

Tilly Kearns, the daughter of former Wallaby Phil Kearns, said it was important to enjoy the moment. As Rippon would say: “Don’t sweat the small things.”

“We win the game, we come home, we’re allowed to celebrate and enjoy the feeling of winning, at least for the rest of the night. Then we have a meeting, rewatch the game, pick up on our mistakes and things we can improve on and things we did well,” she told Nine.

“Sleep is probably going to be hard to achieve tonight, but we still have training tomorrow, all the normal recovery procedures – ice baths, massages, good nutrition.

“The gold medal game is the next day, an early one so maybe we’ll have a swim-out … we’re not sure of the schedule. But tomorrow is all eyes towards that last game.”