Australian Waterpolo-Latest report as Stingers wrap up test series
Perth - Australia wrapped up the Test Series with a 10 - 7 victory over the Italians in Perth.
Australia-Italy Test Series 2011
Game 5 – Australia-10 defeated Italy-7 (2-0, 1-3, 4-1, 3-3)
The Australian Stingers finished the 5 test series against Italy today with a 10-7 victory tonight at Claremont pool allowing them to clean sweep the series with 4 wins and 1 draw.
Once again the Australians got off to a good start leading 2-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, before the Italians struck back twice to level at 3.58 in the 2nd. A goal each saw the game tied up at 3-3 at the end of the 2nd with Australian not capitalising on at least 4 inside waters.
The Australian team came out firing at the start of the 3rd quarter with 3 counter attack goals in 3 minutes through 2 from Patrice O’Neill and 1 to Nicola Zagame. This forced the Italians into a T/O to try and stop the roll which they did successfully by scoring an extra man goal before O’Neill’s 3rd allowed Australia to lead 7-4 at the break.
A goal early in the 4th to Glencora Ralph was answered by 2 extra man goals by the Italians. The Australians just couldn’t seem to shake the Italians but with 2.26 left a Jane Moran goal looked to have put the game beyond reach before the Italians scored another extra man with 32 seconds remaining. Holly Lincoln Smith scored a backhand with 2seconds left to secure Australia’s 4th win of the series.
“Once again we played in stops and starts. Throughout the series this has been a bit of a problem and we need to find a way to be more consistent, so that when we change players in the water we don’t suffer these lapses ‘ coach McFadden said.
“Tonight we failed to put the nail in the Italian’s coffin after clawing to a 2-0 lead then powering to a 6-3 lead. We let the Italians back into the game each time through being lazy in defence and stopping communication. On top of that our shot selection was very poor.
“The series was a great opportunity to practice defending a very dangerous centre forward in Casanova, while also giving our players some valuable international experience at a time of year we don’t normally play. It isn’t very often where we get a top international women’s team to Australia and thankfully Melville, Dolphins & UWA provided the opportunity for the WA crowds to come out and support us.
“I hope they appreciated the level of play from both teams and the junior players can now aspire to the level they need to reach if they want to represent Australia.
“I would like to thank the Italian players and their coaching staff for playing the series in a great spirit and look forward to future training with them.”
Scorers – N. Zagame 3, P. O’Neill 3, J. Moran 1, H. Lincoln Smith 1, M. Rippon 1, G. Ralph 1.
