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Brisbane (December 18).— Australia emphasised its dominance over New Zealand with a third straight victory in the three-Test Oceania Olympic qualification women’s water polo series at the Valley Pool here tonight.
Australia may have stumbled in the third period but still finished 20-3 ahead for a clean sweep of the series that qualified it for the eight-nation Olympic Games tournament next year in Beijing. Stingers head coach Greg McFadden said: “We only played eight field players and rested Mel Rippon (injured in the second Test), Gemma Beadsworth and Kate Gynther. The girls played fantastically. “We just kind of lost our intensity in the third quarter and after that we picked it back up. It was a great performance from everyone. “The players who don’t normally get a lot of pool time, got a lot of pool time and played really well,” he said. The standout players were the Santoromito sisters Mia and Jenna, Sophie Smith, Katie Finucane and Sarah Mills. “The Kiwis were under strength and they didn’t stop trying. Every game we respected them and played to our full and they made us work. In the long run we were just too strong for them,” McFadden said. He used both his goalkeepers with Alicia McCormack making eight saves in the first half and Victoria Brown six in the second. Australia converted four from four on extra and shut out the Kiwis in this important phase of the game, although let in a counter-attack goal, one on action and a backhand from centre forward. Two of the Kiwi goals came in the third period, drawn 2-2, after 6-1 and 5-0 opening periods. The Stingers shut the gate with a 7-0 final period. Australia’s first competition in the run-up to Beijing will be a five-Test series against world champion United States of America in Australia next month — three in Perth and two in Sydney.
Result:
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Test 3, Olympic Games Qualification Series, Brisbane
Stingers qualify for Olympic Games (Photos added)
Playing in the Oceania Olympic qualification series, Australia crushed
the Kiwis 18-1 in the second Test tonight to go with the 17-1 victory
on Monday, making tomorrow’s match a dead rubber. Inaugural Olympic champions in 2000 and fourth in Athens in 2004, the Stingers will join the Aussie Sharks men’s team in the Australian Olympic team. The Kiwis were completely overwhelmed as the Aussie Stingers ran rampant with 4-0, 5-0, 5-1 and 4-0 quarters. Australia now joins Americas qualifier United States of America, Asian qualifier China and European qualifier Netherlands in the eight-nation event with the other four berths still to be determined with three coming from the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Trieste, Italy in February. It completely outclassed New Zealand in what was a tall order for the Kiwis. Stingers head coach Greg McFadden said: “Fantastic. We’ve qualified. We’re relieved. Now we can just worry about preparing for the Olympics. “The girls started fantastically. We were 3-0 up after three minutes and controlled the game, except in the final quarter where we made a few silly errors. “Otherwise we looked very comfortable. Our defence was great and Alicia McCormack played well in goals and our attack in extra man was a lot, better, as well as general play. I thought we played much better than last night,” McFadden said. “Captain Mel Rippon copped a kick and probably won’t play tomorrow night.” McCormack dragged down 12 saves, making it even harder for the Kiwis to penetrate, Australia converted seven from 11 on extra and defended all three of New Zealand’s extra-man chances. The only blemish was a missed penalty attempt. The third and final Test will be played at the same venue tomorrow night.
Result:
2nd quarter: Knox on extra, Cuffe from 5m and on counter, Katie Finucane and Sophie Smith with outside shots. McCormack 5 saves. AUS 1/1 on extra, NZL 0/1. AUS missed penalty shot. 3rd Quarter: Mel Rippon and Cuffe on extr; NZL action goal; Sophie Smith on action, Bec Rippon on extra and Smith on counter. McCormack 3 saves. AUS 3/5 on extra, NZL 0/1. 4th Quarter: Finucane centre forward,Jenna Santoromito on extra, Knox with a penalty and Kate Gynther on extra. McCormack 2 saves. AUS 2/3 on extra. NZL unknown.
Stingers stun Kiwis in opening Olympic qualification match Australia won the quarters 4-0, 6-0, 5-1 and 2-0 to secure a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with the winner heading to the eight-nation Olympic Games tournament. Aussie Stingers head coach Greg McFadden was elated with the win and attributed the big margin to Australia’s tight defence and fast counter-attack. “We talked about if we defended well with good communication, we would play well. We stuck to the game plan and won quite easily. “There are still things we need to improve on, especially our extra man, which isn’t flash. “It’s little things and now that the girls have got rid of the nerves we will come out and give a better performance tomorrow night,” he said. Centre forward Nikita Cuffe and star outside shooter Kate Gynther provided four goals each in a game where McFadden singled out goalkeeper Victoria Brown, who made 13 saves, Gynther, Bronwen Knox and counter-attacker Bec Rippon as the team’s best. The second test is tomorrow and the third, possibly a dead rubber, is on Wednesday at the same venue.
Result:
Olympic Qualifier — Australia v New Zealand women
1st Quarter: Nikita Cuffe on counter, Kate Gynther on extra and Bec
Rippon with two counter-attack goals. Victoria Brown made two saves in
goal. AUS 1/2 on extra; NZL0/1
Stingers duo spearheads Olympic series effort The Aussie Stingers are ranked No 2 in the world and are heavily favoured to win the three-test series comfortably and grab the Oceania berth in the eight-nation Olympic Games tournament. The Aussie Sharks cleaned out the Kiwis 3-0 in their recent series but Stingers head coach Greg McFadden won’t be taking New Zealand lightly. “It’s the best chance to qualify for the Olympics (avoiding the multi-nation qualification tournament in Italy) and we’re not going to go in light-hearted. “We’ve had a pretty good preparation with an excellent showing in Canada (winning the Canada Cup) and a few minor hiccups in America (finishing fifth in the Holiday Cup). “We’ll be playing at 1000 per cent when we face New Zealand first up on Monday,” he said. “We’ll be treating each game as the final of the Olympic Games.” In his arsenal are two players voted in March’s FINA World Championship all-star seven, Gynther and Rippon, while another hot performer at the moment is centre forward Nikita Cuffe. All three, along with Mel’s older sister Bec Rippon, are veterans of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In recent matches between the two countries in the FINA World League, Australia won 14-6 and 16-8. The three matches are being played at Brisbane’s Valley Pool at 7pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The team: |
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Two of the world’s finest women’s water polo players — Kate Gynther
(pictured) and Mel Rippon — will spearhead Australia’s qualification
for the 2008 Olympic Games when Australia meets New Zealand here in the
coming three days.
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