WA Teams Shine at National Age Champs in Perth

Perth fans couldn’t have asked for a better finish to the U18 National Age Championships at HBF Stadium, after Melville Marlins (Girls) and the UWA City Beach Bears (Boys) took out the respective 2016 Championship trophies.

The Girls’ Finals match delivered one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, with local heroes Melville Marlins taking out the reigning champions and hot favourites Croa Sharks, 11-8.

The Marlins started well to take the first quarter 2-1 but the Sharks hit back in the second to tie up scores at half time, 4-4.

The crowd was anticipating the Sharks to pull ahead in third quarter and they did to lead by one goal at three quarter time, 7-6.

But the locals were not going down without a fight with the Marlins rising to the occasion to dominate the last quarter five goals to one to claim the 2016 National Title.

Melville representative and WAIS scholarship athlete Sofia Chaves was named tournament MVP.

The Boys’ Final started at a frantic pace with both teams trading goals to end the first term locked at 5-5.

The Bears’ defence tightened in the second, with their attacking skills unabated, scoring a further five whilst restricting their rivals to one to lead 10-6 at half time.

They continued to assert their control over the match with a four goals to two in the third quarter before shutting out the game in the last to win convincingly, 16-10.

Bears representative and WAIS scholarship holder Tim Putt was named MVP. 

-WaterPoloAus