RYDE, Australia (AP) -- For a long, long time, U.S. water polo star Maureen O'Toole couldn't watch the Olympics.
She made sure Saturday night (Saturday morning EDT) that a lot of Americans will watch her at the Sydney Games.
O'Toole, at 39 the oldest player here, scored the go-ahead goal in the third quarter as the United States began its first Olympic run with a 6-4 victory over World Cup champ Netherlands.
O'Toole's a sports nut who'll watch anything from wrestling to track and field. But when the Olympic theme came on, O'Toole tuned out.
"This should be my sixth Olympics. It was hard for me to watch," she said. "I'd think, 'I'm good at what I do and I represent my country and I can't be there.' That was hard."
O'Toole wasn't only good at her sport, she was great. Maybe the best ever.
She's a 15-time national MVP and a six-time World MVP winner. And even at her advanced age, swimming with teammates half her age like Ericka Lorenz, O'Toole showed why she came out of retirement three years ago for an Olympic chance.
"I wasn't going to miss it," she said.
O'Toole was finally convinced after nearly 20 years in the sport that her Olympics dreams were dead. She left to get on with her life and raise her daughter Kelly.
But when water polo became part of these games, O'Toole was back in the water, training just as hard as 19-year-old Ericka Lorenz, who had two goals.
O'Toole's goal bailed out the team after it gave away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to the Dutch.
On her winning goal, O'Toole struggled through Edmee Heimstra, swept at the ball with her backhand and powered it past goalie Karla Plugge.
Lorenz followed with her second goal at 6:25 of the final period. The Netherlands, who have won five of the past six World Cups, could not recover.
U.S. coach Guy Baker was concerned the magic of their first Olympics might overcome his players. "I was worried about this since the draw in May," he said.
Turns out, his concern was for nothing.
Coralie Simmons scored on a power play 1:14 into the game. Lorenz then faked out Plugge for the second goal and Brenda Villa made it 3-0 with a long shot.
The Dutch, cheered on by a large contingent of orange-shirted fans at Ryde Aquatic Leisure Center, fought back. Danielle de Bruijn's second goal, a simple flip after she swam in alone on goalie Bernice Orwig, tied things.
That's when O'Toole, bottled up by the collapsing defense, got her time to shine. Finally.
"We had a lot of people play well," Baker said. "But yeah, that was a big moment for us and her."
The Americans have been hoping since winning the Holiday Cup in July over the other five teams here for a chance to climb the medal stand and give their sport a boost. No one wants that more than O'Toole, who in her prime would score five or six goals a game for the Americans.
But Lorenz said the star didn't need to give a rah-rah pep locker room talk.
"We know what she's been through and how much this means to her," Lorenz said.
The Americans tightened their defense down the stretch to prevent any more comebacks. Orwig held Dutch star Karin Kuipers to one goal -- and that came with only six seconds remaining.
Netherlands coach Jan Mensink said his team was so fixed on winning the tournament that they "began with bad passes and we just couldn't score."
When the horn sounded, O'Toole slapped hands with her teammates, a big smile on her face.
"Everything's been big for us," she said. "Qualification in May was big. Then this. I don't think it gets bigger than this.
"Oh, well maybe it can next Sunday" when the first Olympic women's water polo gold is awarded.
There could be a lot of people watching O'Toole and her teammates then.
United States 6, Netherlands 4
United States 2 1 1 2 -- 6
Netherlands 0 1 2 1 -- 4
First Quarter--1. United States,
H. Moody, 1:14 (PP).
2. United States, E. Lorenz, 2:15.
Second Quarter--
3. United States, B. Villa, 4:02.
4. Netherlands, D. de Bruijn, 4:12.
Third Quarter--5. Netherlands,
E. Hiemstra, 2:32.
6. Netherlands, D. de Bruijn, 4:37.
7. United States, M. O'Toole, 6:04.
Fourth Quarter--
8. United States, E. Lorenz, 0:35 (PP).
9. United States, R. Beauregard, 4:32 (PP).
10. Netherlands, K. Kuipers, 6:54 (PP).
Referees-- Angel Moliner Molins, Spain;
Gyorgy Csaszar, Hungary
