Team USA's Betsey Armstrong Pushes Water Polo Team Through To Finals

U.S. Olympic water polo goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong, 29, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, carried the American Olympic water polo team to the semifinals after she made 13 of 19 saves in the team’s quarterfinals game against Italy on Sunday, and proceeded to hold out against Australia during overtime in Tuesday’s game. Now the USA is one victory away from winning its first Olympic gold medal in the event.

Armstrong, who helped Team USA’s water polo team nab the silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and is sometimes called the best goalkeeper in women’s water polo in the world, will lead the American team against either Spain or Hungary in Thursday’s final, depending on which team advances in today’s semifinal.

“It’s the presence she has in the goal,” Armstrong’s teammate, Brenda Villa, herself a fourth-time Olympian, said, reports the Detroit News. “I mean, it doesn’t hurt that she’s 6-foot-2 in there,” Villa added.

Armstrong’s teammates have dubbed her “the Redeemer,” according to Villa. She is “our last line of defense. And every time I look behind my shoulder, I see this poised, confident woman in there. And it’s like, ‘OK, we got this.'”

For more Uinterview exclusives and stories on the 2012 London Olympic Games:

EXCLSUIVE: U.S. Olympic Water Polo Captain Brenda Villa Visualizes The Game

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Water Polo Goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong Talks Returning To Olympics

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympics Swimmer Brendan Hansen

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympics Swimmer Brendan Hansen Lost His Olympic Gold Medal

Brendan Hansen To Make Waves At Third Olympics

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Diver Cassidy Krug Describes The Perfect Dive

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Volleyball Player Lindsey Berg Is ‘Honored’ To Be Named Captain

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympian Nick McCrory Talks Diving With David Boudia

EXCLUSIVE: Olympian Jessica Hardy Swims 2.5 Hours Every Morning