The Australian Youth women’s team has continued their dominance in Group A with an emphatic 27-2 victory over Indonesia at the Junior World Championships in Perth.
Australia now sits at the top of Group A on four points, boasting a massive for and against of 45 goals.
Captain Chloe Barr and Shannan Martin each ended the game with five goals, while Belinda Symons and Fiona Walsh both netted three.
The Australian team features four WAIS scholarship holders with; Lillian Hedges, Madeleine Quinn, Kassia Ralston and Jessica Zimmerman all playing in front of a home crowd.
Barr, who scored three of Australia’s first eight goals, said it was highly rewarding that the team executed their plans and was pleased with their overall progression.
“We’re learning to work together and learning to communicate well and that is the benefit of taking it one game at a time,” Barr said.
“We paid a lot of attention to our extra man attack and to our talking and we’ve seen a massive improvement in those areas from earlier in the week.”
The Aussie women seemed to pick up where they left off against the Czech Republic, dominating each quarter with authority.
South Australian pair Barr and Symons led the early scoring, running the Indonesians ragged with their array of counter attack and centre forward goals.
They received strong support from Martin, Walsh, Kassia Ralston, Ainsley Masek and Jessica Zimmerman who all converted in the first half.
Indonesian keeper Ayudya Suidarwanty Pratiwi tried valiantly to keep her team in the contest and her persistence eventual paid off.
Pratiwi blocked consecutive Australian attacks before she sent the ball long for teammate Ariel Siwabessy to convert.
Siwabessy again found the back of the net just minutes into the third term, before the Australians turned on the after burners to score 11 unanswered goals to close out the game.
Lenke Dauda-Board, Madeleine Quinn, Maddi Schmid and Montana Perkins each got their name on the scorer’s sheet with clinical finishes, while Martin, Symons, Walsh and Quinn struck again to add to their multiple hauls.
Dauda-Board, who had an impressive third quarter in attack and defence, said she was delighted to be playing for her country and said it was a massive highlight for all the girls to be playing on the world stage
“This is an athlete’s dream, and a one in a lifetime opportunity, so it’s amazing,” Dauda-Board said.
“This is the highest competition we can play in our age group and we’re absolutely privileged to be part of it and we’re going to try our very best to win that gold.”
Earlier:
The Australian Youth Women’s team has opened their world championship account with an emphatic 22-2 victory over Group A rivals Czech Republic.
The Australians led from start to finish as they showed the poise and execution that could see the play for a medal later in the tournament.
Shannan Martin was one of the stars for the locals netting five goals in a powerful display at centre forward, while Maddie Schmid, Chloe Barr and keepers Lilian Hedges and Stephanie Calaizis also proved strong.
Head coach Aleks Osadchuk was very proud of the team’s performance and said he was very encouraged by their winning start.
“It was a very important game for us and the girls were extremely nervous as they have been building up to this for two years,” Osadchuk said.
“Overall I think the girls did a pretty good job. They started the game with a lot of confidence and were strong throughout so it was a pretty good start to the tournament.”
Osadchuk thanked the large crowd that was on hand and also paid tribute to his support staff that included London Olympic bronze medal winning coach Greg McFadden and WPA ‘Coach of the Year’ Peter Szilagyi (WAIS women’s water polo head coach).
“The support is unbelievable. For the girls to see their friends and family in the crowd and to receive a great cheer squad is fantastic,” he said.
“I also have a great support staff that includes some very experience coaches and they have provided great advice and have helped in many different ways.”
– Water Polo Australia
