Stingers Claim Intercontinental Gold

Australia has won gold at the Intercontinental World League tournament in California, defeating hosts USA 10-7 in the final.

The win secures Australia qualification into the World League Super Final in Shanghai next month as the Stingers build preparations for this year’s benchmark event, the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Having lost to the Americans in a shootout in their final round-robin match, Australia applied the lessons learnt in defeat, to score a morale boasting win for a young group developing under a new head coach.

Australia scored three late goals, including two in the final minute of play to avoid the prospect of another shootout lottery, after the US had fought back from an early deficit to level scores at seven-all with time running down.

The Stingers squad included two West Australian athletes, with Lillian Hedges impressing in goals, whilst Dayna O’Leary made her first senior tour squad in the national fold.

Head coach Sakis Kechagias highlighted the professionalism of his young squad and their hunger to improve.

“I want to congratulate the players for their efforts over days, starting with our camp in Canberra at the AIS.

“We showed day by day improvements and I think it will help with confidence for this team in the future.

“Today we kept pace, kept our mind on the game and stuck to our plan. From tomorrow we will start work on areas we want to improve on ahead of the World League Super Final,” he said.

Canada defeated Japan 5-2 for bronze, with both nations joining Australia and the USA in qualifying for the World League Super Final tournament, which will be contested from June 6-11. The tournament will also feature hosts China, along with Hungary, Russia and the Netherlands.