Australia has continued their quest for FINA World Junior Championships dominance with a hard fought victory over the Hungarian Junior women’s team in their first match of the series in Hungary.
A high scoring last quarter with each side netting four times was a dramatic end to the young Aussies' 11-9 victory, a reversal of their earlier Eger Cup contest which saw the hosts scrape home by one point.
The Australians are slowly building towards the world championships in Trieste, Italy and have now notched three wins on the trot as they build momentum in attack and team play.
Eleisha Browne, who score one goal in the close win, said the girls were quite happy with their progress and believed their matches in Hungary have prepared them well both physically and mentally.
“It was great to win again which gives us more confidence to push towards the world champs. At some stages it became a very physical match but we were cool, kept our heads and played as a team,” Browne said.
The tour in Hungary has been an ideal preparation for Australia with Hungary known as one of the more physical and highly skilled water polo nations in the world and the matches have been a perfect stepping stone in ironing out any faults in the team.
One of the youngest members of the squad, Maddie Schmidt said there is a good feeling among the group and is excited about the direction of the team.
“We are improving quite well game by game and it is good to have a win with solid defence,” Schmidt said.
Ashleigh Southern proved once again how tough an opponent she can be at centre forward with four goals to her name, while Kelsey Wakefield and Genevieve Venosta showed their experience in defence ending any Hungarian raids and setting up numerous counter-attacks.
Australian Junior Women’s Team
K. Wakefield, E. Scott, G. Venosta, E-J Graham, I. Bishop. H. Buckling, M. Schmid, E. Browne, Z. Arancini, A. Southern, J. Appel, O. King, M. Davies
Result: Australian Juniors 11 bt Hungarian Juniors 9
Quarters: 2-1, 3-2, 2-2, 4-4
X man for: 4 from 9; 1 from 4 5m penalties
X man against: HUN scored 4 from 9
AUS scorers: G. Venosta 2, A. Southern 4, H. Buckling 1, J. Appel 1, M. Schmid 1, E. Browne 1, E. Scott 1
Best Players: G. Venosta, K. Wakefield, A. Southern
