Professional Water Polo DVDs | Water Polo News | Players

Day three: Victorian Tigers earn men's and women's semi berths alongside Marlins and Barras

The Victorian Tigers grabbed two of the four available semi final positions on offer with wins in both the men’s and women’s playoff games, while the Longmont Fremantle Marlins women and Brisbane Barracudas men ensured the are still in the hunt for a National League title in 2011.

The Tigers scored the upset of the women’s games by beating the KFC Breakers 11-10 in a thriller, while the Marlins needed extra time to beat Sydney Uni Lions 12-11.

In the men’s games the Tigers kept their title defence alive, overcoming a 4-5 halftime deficit to pull away from UNSW Wests Magpies 11-9 with no less than seven players scoring goals.

Meanwhile the Barracudas won the ‘Battle of Brisbane’ 9-6 against arch rivals KFC Breakers on the back of three fourth quarter goals to none.

Rhys Howden was a class above, scoring 3 goals including one from 7m when the score was 8-6 in the final quarter that almost put a whole in the back of the net. Howden’s brother BJ scored a brace himself, the second one in extra the 100^th of his National League career.

The Victorian Tigers women came into their match having lost their opening two games of the tournament and both their home and away round games against the Breakers but with the added bonus of having National team goalie Victoria Brown back in the water after a leg injury prevented her from playing all but a few games this year.

Leading goal scorer Rowie Webster opened the scoring for Victoria in the first minute of the game and the Tigers never surrendered the lead despite the Breakers drawing to within in a goal at the end of the first, second and last quarters.

And it was Webster who turned the game on its head at the beginning of the third quarter, scoring three goals in as many minutes, the first a blistering bullet from 9 metres. It was a stunning sequence of play that in the end was the difference between the two teams.

In the final quarter though, with Webster excluded from the pool for the rest of the game, the Breakers Sophie Smith (4 goals) and Naomi McCarthy (nee Castle) did their best to bring their team back into the game. But with some stout defence and some brilliance in goals from Brown, the Tigers held on valiantly and now will play the two-time defending champion Brisbane Barracudas in tomorrow’s semi-final.

Tigers coach Dalibor Maslan said his team had used the previous day off to find some confidence following their earlier losses.

“I’m extremely happy after the two losses to win that game,” Maslan said.

“Our confidence was down and I thought we mightn’t climb back on top but the day off was spot on in us recouping ourselves mentally.”

Maslan felt his team controlled the pace of the match well and while he said he was looking forward to the semi finals he knew the Barracudas would provide a stiff challenge.

“Even when it got close my girls were controlling the game and the result,” Maslan said.

“Tomorrow in the semi finals we play the Barracudas and obviously they are regarded as the best and we will get into the game fully respecting their team but if we get a chance to win the game we’ll take it.”

In the second women’s game Sydney Uni Lions almost caused a bigger boilover, pushing the minor premiership runner up Longmont Fremantle Marlins into extra time at 10-all before the Marlins finally prevailed 12-11.

The Marlins led 6-5 at the main break but an upset looked on the cards when the Lions squared things up in the third quarter at 8-all and went ahead by two goals early in the last term.

Then in the space of a minute experienced Marlins national representatives Zoe Arancini and Gemma Beadsworth (five total goals) scored to force the two extra periods. That pair then combined in extra time for another goal to Arancini that was cancelled out by Uni’s Alicia Brightwell, only to have Emma Hamilton-Foster ensure victory for the girl’s from the West. They will now play minor premiers Cronulla for a spot in the final.

Women’s semi-final draw: (5) Victorian Tigers v (3) Brisbane Barracudas, (2) Longmont Fremantle Marlins v (1) Cronulla Sharks

Men’s semi-final draw:  (4) Victorian Tigers v (2) Sydney Uni Lions, (1) Fremantle Mariners v (5) Brisbane Barracudas 

Click here to download the ladders after the Preliminary Round games

Day two: Brisbane Barracudas enhance chances of third straight women's title

The Brisbane Barracudas aspirations of a third straight women’s National Water Polo League title has received a welcome boost after a 5-5 draw with Fremantle Marlins saw them finish top of Group B.

A superior goal difference was enough for the Barracudas to progress and now look forward to a day off before the semi-final and medal matches commence.

Barracudas coach Fabio Pavanello was very pleased with the result but said the team still had areas to improve upon going into the next stage of the series.

“We are happy with the result given the draw is enough to get us through, but we let them get back into the game with a lot of exclusions after a couple of goals  lead,” Pavanello said.

A strict game plan of reducing the effect of Marlin’s key goal scorers Gemma Beadsworth and Glencora Ralph worked superbly with Jane Moran, Kate Gynther and Mel Rippon dominant in both attack and defence.

Barracudas Jane Moran was in fine form scoring two goals

Despite the disappointment there were promising signs for the Marlins who did fight back after at one stage falling two goals behind.  Emma Thillainath was particularly impressive in goal, keeping her team in the contest for most of the match.

The biggest threat to the Barracuda’s attempt at history will come from the red hot Cronulla Sharks who later claimed first in Group A with an 18-5 thrashing of the KFC Breakers.

The minor premiers, who have only lost one match all season, were superior to the Breakers in all aspects of the game with Nicola Zagame (5 goals) and Dutch star Mieke Cabout (4 goals) once again leading the attack.

Maddy Schmid shone in defence regularly stealing the ball off the opposition and her ability to start numerous counter attacks deflated the outplayed Breakers.

In front of a very large crowd for the men’s session, Sydney Uni Lions and UNSW Wests Magpies also drew with the stalemate being enough for the Lions to gain top spot in Group B.

The 13-13 scoreline between the Lions and Magpies was a true indication of a very tight tussle which saw the momentum between the cross town rivals change constantly.  

The Lions had the better of play early but a superb conversion rate in extra man play for UNSW Wests’ enabled them to fight back and eventually claim the lead for the first time early in the fourth quarter.

Veteran’s Alastair Visch, Trent Franklin and Daniel Lees again spearheaded the Uni outfit while Great Britain national captain Craig Figes and sharp shooter Stephan Cody starred for the Magpies.

Fremantle Mariners claimed the final automatic semi-final spot with the third draw of the evening.

The 9-9 result and a one goal differential over the Victorian Tiger’s meant the Western Australians topped Group A and progressed ahead of last year’s champions.

A late second quarter surge by Australian Sharks player Daniel Lawrence was the saviour for the Mariners with his four goals helping to fend off the fast finishing Tigers.

US import Brian Alexander led the Tigers’ fight back with three of his own helping his team to claw its way back from a 7-4 deficit.

The two teams could find themselves matched up against each other come Saturday’s gold medal play off. 

Women’s elimination finals draw:

(4) KFC Queensland Breakers v (5) Victorian Tigers, (1) Longmont Fremantle Marlins v (6) Sydney Uni Lions

Men’s elimination finals draw:  (4) Victorian Tigers v (3) UNSW Wests Magpies, (5) Brisbane Barracudas v (6) KFC Queensland Breakers

Day one: Sydney Uni men clinch last minute win against Barracudas

Sydney Uni Lions men’s team escaped a narrow encounter and a late controversial decision to defeat Brisbane Barracudas 9-8 in their opening match of the Purnell Trophies National Water Polo League finals held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatics Centre.

Scott Nicholson had put the second ranked Lions ahead with 1minute 16 seconds left on the clock, but a last ditch effort by Drew Gynther, later cancelled out by the referees, saw mass confusion on pool deck.

Brisbane coach Rob Edwards thought his side had equalised but after the two officials converged the goal was disallowed and the Lions were declared the winner.

Two goals by veteran Alastair Visch had seen the Lions claw their way back from a 6-8 third quarter deficit and inspired performances by fellow stars Tom Whalan, Trent Franklin and Daniel Lees in goal cemented the comeback.

A strong counter attacking game by the Brisbane Barracudas had earlier shocked the Lions and American imports Jacob Young and goalkeeper Casey Regehr, along with Australian star Rhys Howden, shone throughout the match.

The other men’s game saw minor premiers the Fremantle Mariners easily account for the KFC Queensland Breakers 10-6.

A 3-0 third term to the Mariners established a comfortable margin with Grant Richardson and James Fannon leading the way with two goals each.

Competition favourites Cronulla Sharks women’s team started their finals campaign with a convincing 15-8 win over cross town rivals Sydney Uni Lions.

The star studded Sharks skipped away to a 6-1 first quarter lead and never looked back with Dutch import Mieke Cabout and Australian Stinger’s representative Nicola Zagame starring in attack.

Both girls unleashed a series of blistering shots with Cabout netting five times while Zegame assisted with four majors.

Sydney Uni Lions did fight back in the last quarter with Alicia Brightwell scoring 4 times including two penalties, but the Sharks defence and discipline overpowered the sixth ranked Lions.

In the other women’s match of the morning, second ranked Fremantle Marlins defeated the fifth ranked Victoria Tigers 13-8.

Fellow Australian Stinger’s players Glencora Ralph and Zoe Arancini led the way with three goals each while Tiger’s centre forward Rowie Webster gave some resistance with four goals.

The Cronulla Sharks and Fremantle Marlins play their second fixtures on Wednesday afternoon as do men’s top seeds the Mariners and Lions.

In later men's games the Barracudas bounced back to beat UNSW Wests Magpies 10-7, while the Victorian Tigers kicked off their campaign with a 12-9 victory over the winless Breakers.

In the women's games the Victorian Tigers and Sydney Uni both lost their second games of the day at the hands of the Barracudas (13-8) and Breakers (13-7) respectively.

Wednesday's action begins at 3pm and will see the final four games of the opening Group stage.