WAIS Water Polo Athletes Return Silver in NTC Challenge
The Western Australian Institute of Sport has come away with silver medals in both the men’s and women’s water polo NTC challenge over the weekend.
In Brisbane, WAIS went into the men’s final against the Queensland Academy of Sport as deserved favourites after going through the rounds and semi final undefeated. QAS however was having none of this and from the immediate start of the game looked the stronger team.
This was despite having a tough semi-final game on Saturday and there being some question over their ability to back up against a fresher WAIS outfit. The WAIS squad was hampered by the news coach Paul Oberman wouldn’t be present at the final after falling ill with a bout of food poisoning.
The first quarter was a tough defensive effort from both teams, but QAS managed to capitalise on two occasions with strong outside shooting, whilst WAIS shooters found it difficult to penetrate the strong zone defence.
The second quarter continued in similar fashion with QAS completely shutting out all WAIS attacks. Frustration started to creep into WAIS attacks with composure and confidence – which had been such a strong part of their previous games – being eroded. QAS also found it difficult to score in this period but did manage a goal to extend their lead to three goals at the main break.
WAIS were determined to try and wrestle their way back into the game but still had no answers to the QAS defence. QAS however continued to make the most of their opportunities and through a clinical display of controlled attacking managed to slip out to a five goal lead late in the third, before WAIS finally got on the board through a penalty conversion.
The last quarter was a slog for both teams with QAS determined to control the tempo of the game whilst WAIS continued to try and push counter-attacks and endeavour to make an impression on the scoreboard. WAIS pulled a couple of goals back in the final stage, but could not tilt the match in their favour, settling for the silver medal 6-3.
In Canberra, The WAIS women’s team secured its silver medal in the round robin format, despite dropping its final match against a composite team, coached by national women’s mentor Greg McFadden.
WAIS started the match solidly and went into the first break level 2-2. The second quarter saw the Composite team come out with more aggression and energy and raced to a 6-3 lead by halftime.
WAIS missed two penalties which proved costly and the effect of having only eight field players and a very hard week took its toll in the second half. Composite was able to maintain that advantage for the remainder of the game.
Greg McFadden (Composite coach) was impressed with his squad’s ability to gel together despite many of the players not knowing each other ahead of the tournament.
“The girls played some great polo throughout the week and we proved very competitive which was extremely pleasing for me. Most of these girls didn’t know each other’s names at the start of the week but gelled as a team fantastically,” he said.
“Today’s game was pleasing as apart from the first quarter. We really executed what we talked about and we also kept two of the leading goal scorers to only two goals in the game”.
WAIS head coach Peter Szilagyi was upbeat after the loss, believing his team had performed well for the most part of the week.
“Today we just simply run out of petrol,” he said. “I was very happy with the performance of the team throughout the competition. The girls proved to themselves and everyone else what good players they are.”
– Water polo Australia
