WATER POLO: The Australian women's water polo team have continued their winning form at the FINA World League Intercontinental Tournament, with a 9-5 win over Kazakstan.
It was a confident boosting win for the new look Aussie side who are set to meet Kazakstan in Group D pool at the all important 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest in July.
While the Aussies managed to finish with a solid four point win, Captain Rowie Webster admitted it was a hard fought battle.
“Extremely rough. The referees are not [giving] too many easy fouls so it’s really hard to get the flow of the game going.
“But they gave us a challenge, and I think today we rose to it. We did a good job to get the win,” said Webster.
One of the Aussie Stingers debutants is Gabi Palm who formed an important part of the Aussie’s defence in goals.
“It was a tough game, it was really about a team effort and making sure we did it together to get those goals.
“We had a strong defensive game but we still need to work on our extra man defence a little bit. It was good to get the win heading into our game against Japan tomorrow,” said Palm.
The first goal of the game was a 5-meter penalty shot by Captain Rowie Webster before Kazakhstan’s were quick to respond with a goal a minute later.
Keesja Gofers put the team ahead 2-1, but the most exciting goal of the period came when Isobel Bishop stole the ball in front of Kazakhstan’s net, broke away, and whipped in a solo goal from the far right side of the pool to give Australia 3-1 lead. Each team scored once in the second period and Australia led, 4-2, at halftime.
In the second half, Australia added three more points before a foul on Rowie Webster enabled Kazakhstan to take a penalty shot to make it 7-3. Another goal to the opposition saw the Aussies having to dig deep to secure their third consecutive win, but they rose to the challenge to finish out the game 9-5.
RESULTS
AUSTRALIA 9 KAZAKHSTAN 5
Quarters: 3-1, 1-1, 3-2, 2-1.
Extra Man: AUS 0/4. KAZ 1/4.
Pens: AUS 1/1. KAZ 1/1.
Goal scorers: Keesja Gofers (2), Hannah Buckling (1), Isobel Bishop (1), Amy Ridge (1), Rowie Webster (3), Tiana Sogaard Anderson (1).
Water Polo Australia