'What's going on?': Gabi Palm opens up on heroic moment she won penalty shootout for Stingers
American Maddie Musselman had already put two goals past Stingers 'keeper Gabi Palm when they faced off in the sudden death stages of the women's water polo semi-final.
But as ever, third time's a charm. Palm came forward, stuck out her right mitt and deflected the shot wide of the goal.
It finished off a stunning comeback for the Stingers, who trailed 5-2 at half time against a US team that won the last three Olympic golds, and hasn't missed a final since Athens.
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Speaking to Nine, Palm said it took a few moments to even register that she'd made the decisive save.
"It was a bit of a moment because she had already shot two on me in the game so I was really trying to stay on my line, watch the ball see where she was going to go and then just react to it," she explained.
The win over the USA was Australia's first at the Olympics since they beat them to win gold in Sydney. Getty
"When I actually touched the ball, I thought: 'Oh my god, I just touched that. Wait, what does that mean?'.
"I was so excited about the save, I knew it meant we won, but then the rest weren't reacting and then everyone was jumping around and it was such a chaotic few seconds.
"It was like 'what's going on?'."
Palm said she got emotional as she watched a replay of her save for the first time.
Appearing alongside her, shooter Tilly Kearns admitted that was as calm as she'd ever been heading into a shootout.
"Whatever happened was going to happen. I had to stay cool, calm, collected out there and think about where I was going to put the ball," she said.
"I watched the goalie on the previous shots to see what kind of jumps she was doing.
"But we were really calm, shockingly."
But after her goal found the back of the net, she virtually "blacked out" and remembers little of it.
The Stingers last won Olympic gold in Sydney – the first time a women's competition had been held at the Olympics – where they ironically defeated the USA. They won bronze in Beijing and London.
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Abby Andrews celebrates victory with friends and family. Getty
It was also the last time the Aussies beat the USA at an Olympics. The two sides haven't been pooled together since then, but played the bronze medal match in Athens, and semi-finals in Beijing and London.
The Stingers have gone through the Paris tournament undefeated, and will face the equally undefeated Spain in the gold medal match.
The pair spoke to Nine about 11.30pm local time in Paris. Palm said she and her teammates were giving themselves the night to enjoy the victory, but then it was eyes forward.
Gabriella Palm and Tilly Kearns speaking to Nine. Nine
"After this we're about to go jump in an ice bath ... we're all about recovery," she said, before joking she would love to find a beer or two hidden in the ice.
Kearns said it was a routine they had carried throughout the tournament.
"We win the game, we come home, we're allowed to celebrate and enjoy the feeling of winning, at least for the rest of the night," she explained.
"Then we have a meeting, rewatch the game, pick up on our mistakes and things we can improve on and things we did well.
"Sleep is probably going to be hard to achieve tonight, but we still have training tomorrow, all the normal recovery procedures – ice baths, massages, good nutrition.
"The gold medal game is the next day, an early one so maybe we'll have a swim-out ... we're not sure of the schedule.
"But tomorrow is all eyes towards that last game."
The gold medal match is scheduled for 11.35pm Saturday night (AEST).
