Photo by Getty Images

Brenda Villa (Commerce, CA/Stanford/Commerce) got things started by slamming home the first penalty shot of the night. Frank then stopped Hungary's first shooter, Agnes Valkai, only to have Hungarian goalie Ildiko Sos get a hand on Amber Stachowski's shot after Ericka Lorenz (San Diego, CA/UC Berkeley) had rocketed in her shot for Team USA. Frank got even bigger in the cage next, blasting away as strike from Hungary's top scorer, Mercedes Stieber, to help the USA to a 10-9 edge, setting up Robin Beauregard (Huntington Beach, CA/UCLA/New York AC) and Natalie Golda (Fullerton, CA/UCLA/New York AC) for the last two U.S. scores to lock down the win with the 12-10 decision.

"It was awesome," Villa said. "It's our last game on American soil before Athens. We don't want to start rough in Athens. We're going to be playing a lot of European teams, so it was good to play Hungary in the final. I've never been in a shootout. It's the utmost pressure situation."

All four teams in the medal rounds entered the final day with a 3-1 record, after both Saturday's semifinals saw upsets of the two previously undefeated top seeds from group play. Italy lost 10-9 to the USA to enter the bronze-medal game with Russia, which suffered an 8-7 semifinal loss to Hungary. The tournament was a telling Olympic preview, hosting all eight teams bound for Athens in August.

The last time the United States and Hungary clashed twice in one week was back in December 2002 at the FINA World Cup. Things didn't work out very well for Team USA that year, as it got stuck with a 5-5 tie and then an 8-7 loss in the gold-medal game. A year later, the pair met in the fifth-place game of the 2003 Thetis Cup in Greece -- Team USA's only finish out of the medal rounds in international competition since 1999. That game ended in a 7-4 U.S. victory, and yet another year passed until Team USA and Hungary would face off again.

Rewind to last week at Stanford University… The U.S. women and the Hungarians worked through a tough match, highlighted by Agnes Primasz's four-goal outburst that Team USA was able to absorb and respond with a balanced attack to post an 8-6 win. Which brings us to Sunday night's gold-medal game in Long Beach:

Team USA answered an early Hungarian goal with a 6-on-5 strike from Villa and a counterattack goal from Kelly Rulon (San Diego, CA/UCLA/San Diego Shores), but a Hungarian penalty shot leveled the game back at 2-2. A U.S. turnover got the ball in the hands of Anniko Pelle as time drained, and Pelle went one-on-one with Jackie Frank (Long Beach, CA/Stanford), slipping in the go-ahead score.

In the second quarter, Margie Dingeldein (Merced, CA/Stanford) threw up a huge field block that put Team USA on the counterattack. Villa took the ball down and passed off the foul to Amber Stachowski (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/UCLA) at two meters. Stachowski got the shot off under pressure, and the game was tied at 3-3. Agnes Primasz, who gave Team USA trouble last week, scored from the perimeter on another Hungarian 6-on-5, pulling Hungary back up 4-3. Dingeldein next hit hard for the USA's offense, taking a crossing pass from Rulon and drilling it home for a 4-4 score 1:24 from halftime. Team USA defense put a clamp on Hungary's next possession to go on the attack and earn another power play. Golda sent a searing shot from the top on that opportunity, and Team USA had its first lead of the game at 5-4 with 21 seconds left in the half. Frank swatted a solid Hungarian shot just before the buzzer to retain the edge for the USA.

Hungary's top scorer in the tournament, Stieber, leveled things early in the third with a 6-on-5 score from the top, and then Hungary took the lead again with another power play score from Rita Dravucz at 5:55. On Hungary's third 6-on-5 chance of the quarter, Stachowski got a hand on the shot for a field block out of bounds. Team USA got the ball back and went down-pool to earn a power play of its own. Ericka Lorenz (San Diego, CA/UC Berkeley) got up and put away the opportunity with a sizzling crosscage score from the top right for another tie score, 6-6 with 2:22 left in the period. Heather Moody (Green River, WY/San Diego State/New York AC) earned an exclusion in the final minute, and Villa laced in the score from the left side to grab the 7-6 lead. Again, Hungary clawed back, and Pelle went bar-in for yet another tie entering the final period.

Frank got excluded trying to stop a deep pass to a wide-open Hungarian player, leaving Dingeldein to hustle back and try to cover the cage. Pelle took a shot at a lob over Dingeldein, but it went off the bar. Hungary didn't miss on its next possession, however. Primasz blazed a crosscage score to go up 8-7, and then Dingeldein sailed a perfect lob to the back of the cage to bring up an 8-8 tie with 5:34 remaining. Frank came up with a huge save on a dangerous Pelle counterattack with 2:52 on the clock, but the USA was unable to make the most of the offensive opportunity. With one minute ticking away, Team USA was on the attack, and Thalia Munro's (Santa Barbara, CA/UCLA) shot was tipped high by Ildiko Sos, giving the U.S. women another series with 38.5 seconds left. The USA got up with a 6-on-5 chance, but Golda and Villa both went off the crossbar, bringing up the second deciding penalty shootout of the day -- Frank's cue to take control.