BEIJING —They walked out together, then stood side by side holding hands and grinning like never before. When the Dutch women's water polo team jumped onto the medal stand to collect the gold medals, the players took several collective bows. In truth, it was Danielle de Bruijn's show. And her curtain call. De Bruijn scored seven goals in her final Olympic game, including the game-winner with 26 seconds remaining, and the Netherlands shocked the United States 9-8 in the gold medal match Thursday night. "I don't think I've ever quite seen that," U.S. coach Guy Baker said. "What a great performance. ... It is up there with some of the great performances, especially because she did it at the Olympics. We were trying to get her stopped, but she's always been a good scorer." Not quite like this, though. De Bruijn scored three of the first four goals of the match, helping stake the Dutch to a 4-0 lead before the Americans could blink. She scored two more right after halftime, giving her team a 7-5 advantage. And she saved her best for last, scoring twice on power plays that turned out to be the difference. The left-hander who was so disappointed her country didn't qualify for the 2004 games in Athens helped them make amends four years later. The Dutch knocked out defending Olympic gold medalist Italy in the quarterfinals, sent Hungary to the bronze medal game in the semifinals and delivered their biggest upset in the finals. Not bad for a country that came to Beijing ranked ninth in the world. Now, they're leaving on top. De Bruijn is going out that way, too, calling it quits after more than a decade on the national team and in need of knee surgery. "I face a knee surgery, and after that, I am retiring from international competition," she said. "It has been tough years and now I think I will do other things in my life besides water polo." The Americans left Yingdong Natatorium with long faces, having had to compose themselves before begrudgingly accepting silve...