It was heartbreak for the Team USA women’s water polo team Saturday in Paris.

Sabrina van der Sloot scored with one second left on the game clock, and Netherlands stunned the Americans 11-10 to claim the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The U.S. had been the only country to medal in each women’s water polo tournament at the Olympics since it started in 2000.

“We’ve talked about just trying to learn from our mistakes and getting better,” U.S. captain Maggie Steffens said. “And I feel today we struggled to continually learn from our mistakes.”

The U.S. arrived at the Paris Games in search of an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal, while continually downplaying the significance of the streak. Steffens was the only holdover from the 2012 team, and one of six returning players from Tokyo.

No team — men’s or women’s — has won four straight water polo titles at the Olympics. The rough finish in France only served to underline the difficulty of the program’s long run on top of the sport.

“Everyone on the outside has no idea what this is like,” U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said. “And they have no idea how difficult this is, how hard it is to win. We made it look easy, but it was anything but that for those three Olympic Games.”

San Jose’s Jenna Flynn, a Stanford University star whose father, Joe, was a standout baseball player at Harbor High in Santa Cruz, scored her second goal of the game to give Team USA a 10-7 lead with 4:26 remaining. Her power-play tally was the last goal for the Americans.

Vivian Sevenich scored the next two goals for Netherlands, one coming with a player advantage, and Bente Rogge scored the equalizer while on the power play with 1:19 left.

Maddie Musselman missed a shot for Team USA with 1 minute remaining, and the Americans turned the ball over with nine seconds left. Netherlands quickly called a timeout to draw up its game-winning play.

American goalie Ashleigh Johnson faced 21 shots and finished with 10 saves.

Van der Sloot finished with six goals to lead Netherlands.

Team USA went 5 of 9 on power plays and 1 of 2 on penalties while the Netherlands went 4 of 8 on power plays and 2 for 2 on penalties.

Flynn’s other goal also on the power play and put Team USA up 4-2 in the second quarter. Musselman and Ryann Neushul also scored twice for the Americans.

Flynn finished with 13 goals over seven matches in her first trip to the Olympics.

Krikorian’s future was among the biggest questions for the U.S. program in the aftermath of the Paris Games. Jamie Davis takes over as CEO of USA Water Polo on Oct. 1, so there likely won’t be a decision on the coaching front for months.

Krikorian nearly left his position after the U.S. won gold in Tokyo, and he openly wondered after this year’s fourth-place finish if it might be time for a change.

“There’s moments in which I feel like new leadership may be good,” he said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so your message sometimes gets a little stale in moments.”

It also remains to be seen what Steffens, Johnson and the rest of the U.S. veterans decide to do. The 2028 Olympics are in Los Angeles — the epicenter of American water polo — handing an automatic berth to the U.S. program that provides more flexibility for the players’ training schedule.

But competing for the national team remains a daunting challenge, and some of the decorated American stars could decide this is a good time to move on with their lives.

“Right now, we need to be present. We need to be with our teammates,” said Steffens, the highest scoring woman in Olympics history with 64 goals. “We need to feel the feels, and moving forward, we’ll see.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.