U.S. women’s water polo star Maddie Musselman Woepse is mourning the loss of her husband, Pat, who died Thursday night from a rare form of lung cancer. He was 31.

Pat Woepse was diagnosed with NUT carcinoma in September 2023. Woepse, a former water polo player himself, set a goal of going to the Paris Olympics to watch his wife play — and he made it.

In an Instagram post, Maddie, 26, called Pat “the light of my life and my person.”

“He was my first love and the best husband I could have ever asked for,” she wrote. “He opened my heart up to what love is and looks like and I will forever do my best to love as hard as Patrick loved from this day forward. He was a true blessing from God.”

Pat Woepse grew up in Southern California and played water polo at UCLA. He helped the Bruins win consecutive national championships in 2014 and 2015.

UCLA celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2014 team this month, and Woepse was visited by his old teammates at the hospital.

Pat and Maddie met at the January 2022 wedding of Kodi Hill, one of Musselman’s teammates at UCLA, and Ryder Roberts, who played alongside Woepse with the Bruins.

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Following one awkward voicemail — Pat wasn’t exactly ready to leave a message — they started dating. It clicked quickly and easily. They bonded over their shared Catholic faith and water polo. Pat loved to travel, and Maddie found she liked traveling a lot more when Pat was with her.

Pat described himself as “very lucky” when it came to his relationship with Maddie, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. team. And she felt the same way.

“I know Pat is looking down and smiling with that perfect smile of his,” Maddie wrote on Instagram. “He is definitely overjoyed to be running and swimming around all freely up in heaven. ... I promised him I would keep living life with him as my angel, guiding and motivating me, and never ever forgetting the ways he has made my life amazing. He promised me he would continue to show up and all I have to do is just look for him.”

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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