Stingers Enact US Revenge

The Australian women’s water polo team have enacted revenge over arch rivals USA, defeating the reigning Olympic champion in their two most recent matches as the Road to Rio intensifies.

Having recently lost their first two of three encounters with the US in California, the Stingers regrouped strongly to win the third and final match in California 5-4 before repeating the score-line in their Kunshan Cup opener in China.

Matches between the two nations have traditionally been hard fought and with the Stingers’ edging back to back wins by single goal margins, all signs point towards a continued trend in the lead up to August’s Olympic Games in Rio.

WAIS scholarship athletes Gemma Beadsworth, Zoe Arancini and Glencora McGhee (who this week represented Australia for the 200th time) were all members of the victorious national team squad, who have since defeated Brazil 7-6 to earn a sequence of three consecutive wins that has set them up for a strong assault at the Kunshan Cup, which serves as a warm up to this month’s World League Super Final, also in China.

The Stingers were the beneficiary of a bit of luck and some missed opportunities from the Americans in their final clash in California, but improved in the second outing in China, to restrict their opponents and run out worthy winners, which even drew praise from tough to please head coach Greg McFadden.

Speaking on the Kunshan Cup win he said, “Excellent performance in our defence. The other night when we beat them 5-4, they kind of missed quite a few shots but tonight we controlled quite well and they controlled us and it was a really hard fought game,” McFadden said.

“It was a tough USA – Australia game and the girls should be very proud of themselves.”

The Stingers will tackle the World League Super Final after the Kunshan Cup, which is the last tournament tune-up before Olympic squads are announced for Rio.