Natalie Golda

American water polo player

Natalie Golda (now Benson, born December 28, 1981) is a former American water polo player and currently the head coach of the newly formed Fresno State Bulldogs water polo team to begin competition in 2018. Considered one of the greatest women's water polo players of all time, her senior leadership helped guide the 2005 UCLA Bruins to their seventh national championship. In May 2005 Golda received the Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the best player in women's collegiate water polo. She was also a member of the US Water Polo Team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2015, she was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. She was born in Lakewood, California.

Golda helped the US National Team win the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic, qualifying the United States for Olympic water polo play at the Athens Olympiad in 2004. With her four tournament goals, the US team took gold at the 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. In 2004, Golda redshirted to play in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece. She scored two goals, one against Hungary and another against Australia and helped the team win a bronze medal. In April 2006, she left for Greece to play for a club team in the League of European Nations, the ANC Glyfada team. In February 2007, Golda was inducted into the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) Hall of Fame with fellow Olympic medalists Heather Moody and Nicolle Payne. The three women were members of the bronze medal 2004 U. S. Olympic team in Athens, and are the first women added to the NYAC Hall of Fame. Golda and fellow UCLA Bruin Jaime Hipp are members of the USA water polo women's national team, which is ranked no. 1 in the world. Golda was one of three returning players on the USA Olympic water polo team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In game one of the 2008 Olympics, Golda, the high scorer, led the team with 4 goals to a close 12 11 victory over Olympic newcomer China. Game two against defending gold medalist Italy ended in a draw after Italy managed to score a tying goal with only 22 seconds left in the game. The United States surged in game three against Russia with Golda scoring a team leading 3 goals in a 12 7 defeat of Russia. In the Olympic semifinal, the U. S. women's water polo team beat Australia 9 8, with Golda scoring one goal and providing one assist. Golda scored one goal in the championship game against the Netherlands and took home the silver medal from China.

Golda was the head coach of the Huntington Beach Water Polo Club until August 2013 when she accepted the women's coach job at Division I Marist College in New York. She has since guided the Red Foxes to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Water polo regular season championships in 2015, and second place finishes in the MAAC Conference Championships. Golda was named Anaconda Sports Coach of the Year in 2014, and has had five players named All MAAC First team, six on All MAAC Second Team, One MAAC Rookie of the Year and 10 All MAAC Academic Team Honors over the course of two seasons. Benson (Golda) was then named the first head women's water polo coach at Fresno State, who began competition during the spring of 2018 [].