Professional Water Polo DVDs | Water Polo News | Players

The championships start in Porto, Portugal on Monday and the official game in Avezzano ended two weeks of training with Greece and Italy.

Sarah Mills and Rowena Webster had two goals each as the Aussies led 4-0 early. Mills grabbed two more in the second-quarter scoring romp as her team led 11-4 at halftime.

The third period was lost 4-2 while in the fourth, Glencora Ralph and Patrice O'Neill, both recovering from sickness and injury, found the back of the net for a 15-9 scoreline.

Australia’s opening game of the FINA World Championships is against Puerto Rico, followed by group match-ups with Japan and the Netherlands.

Result:
Junior women’s international, Avezzano, Italy: Australia 15 (S Mills 4, R Webster 3, G Beadsworth, Holly Lincoln-Smith 2, P O’Neill, G Ralph, M Hammond, B Appel) Italy 9.



Coach's report
Avezzano, Italy (July 21).— The Australian Junior Women's Team has continued their World Championships preparation with a training camp and one official match in Avezzano, Italy.After a stint in Athens training with the Greek Junior team the Aussie girls travelled to Italy for another week of common training along with an official international game. The training camp, with one session remaining, has been extremely productive.  High intensity match practice against a strong Italian Junior team along with tactical and conditioning sessions have given the team a chance to continue building towards a successful World Junior Championships Campaign.

Last night in the official match we beat the Italians 15 - 9. 

In a fast and physical game the girls started extremely well scoring in our first attack through a goal by Rowie Webster, her first of 3.  At only four minutes into the game we were ahead 4 - 0.  Sarah Mills and Rowie Webster had 2 each.  The Italians hit back with an goal on extra to make the score 4 - 1 at the first break.

The second quarter was a goal scoring spree for the Aussies netting 7 goals.  Gemma Beadsworth scored two early from centre-forward and was followed by Holly Lincoln-Smith.  Mills snatched another 2 with accurate outside shooting.  Italy managed 3 more to make the half-time score 11 - 4.

The Aussies lost concentration in the third quarter missing easy opportunities and throwing the ball away cheaply too often.  This allowed the opposition to claw their way back to 13 - 8.

The last quarter was a slower period as the game became heavier and the players tired.  Glencora Ralph and Patrice O'Neill, both recovering from sickness and injury, found the back of the net to bring the game to a 15 - 9 conclusion.

A day of sightseeing in Rome and one more training session with the Italian team will finish off a successful build up for the Aussie team before they travel to Porto for the World Junior Championships which commence on the 23rd July.  Our first game will be against Puerto Rico followed by other group matches against Japan and The Netherlands.

Ryan Moar

Australia 15 (S Mills 4, R Webster 3, G Beadsworth, Holly Lincoln-Smith 2, P O’Neill, G Ralph, M Hammond, B Appel 1) def Italy 9

Quarters: 4-1, 7-3, 2-4, 2-1

Major Fouls: Australia 11, Italy 11

Junior women second in Pythia Cup after win against Greece
Itea, Greece (July 10).—
Australia finished second in a four-team junior women’s water polo tournament in Greece, finishing with a 10-5 victory over the host country. The win went alongside a win over Spain and loss to tournament winner Russia. Goalkeeper Danielle Bower took out the best-goalkeeper award. The tournament was the start of the build-up to the July 23-29 FINA WorldChampionships in Porto, Portugal.
The team now has training camps with Greece and Italy before flying to Porto.
Result: Pythia Cup, Itea, Greece, day 3:
Australia 10 (G Beadsworth, J Whitehorn, S Mills 2, K Gofers, R Webster, J Santoromito, J Liessmann) Greece 5.
Final placings: Russia, Australia, Greece, Spain.

Coach's Report
Australian Junior Women's Tour 2007

The team departed from various cities around Australia on 3 July to meet up at Singapore Airport en route to Itea, a small, coastal, Greek town 3 hours from Athens.

Two days after arriving the team played in an annual four nation (Greece, Russia, Spain, Australia) tournament, The Pythia Cup.  As current holders of the Pythia Cup, after beating Greece, USA and Germany in 2006 the girls were keen for a good start to the tour and aimed to regain the title.

A solid opening match saw the team, minus Patrice O'Neill and Glencora Ralph (both recovering from injury and illness), beat the Spanish team 11 - 7.  A game of two halves where we totally dominated (7 – 2) in the first two quarters then stumbled home in the 3rd and 4th, due mainly to tiredness and jetlag.

Our second game was against the highly fancied Russian Team.  In a high-scoring affair the girls played with great spirit only to let the opposition skip away to an 18 - 13 score-line.  There were many positive aspects in the loss and we look forward to another chance to knock off the Russians at the World Championships in Porto if we get the chance.

The third and final game of the tournament was against the host nation were the Aussie girls again dominated their opponents in a fairly one-sided game - the final score was Australia 10 Greece 5.

Our final placing in the tournament was second behind Russia, then Greece and Spain respectively.  An added bonus to our silver medals was Danielle Bower receiving goalkeeper of the tournament.

From Itea we moved back to Athens for a week-long training camp with the Greek Junior Team.  The week so far has been hard training-wise but very productive for the team.  The practice matches have given the girls great opportunities to work on our weaknesses highlighted by the first 3 games and build on our conditioning in preparation for the World Juniors which begin on the 23rd July.

Russians too good for Aussies in Pythia Cup
Itea, Greece (July 7).—
The national junior women’s team were beaten 18-13 by Russia in the Pythia Cup here today. The Russian counter-attack worked effectively while Australia managed six goals from 12 chances on extra-man attack.
Result:
Pythia Cup, junior women, Itea, Greece, Day 2:
Russia 18 Australia 13 (G Beadsworth 4, J Whitehorn, J Santoromito, S Mills 2, R Webster, B Appel, H Lincoln-Smith).