WPWL Super Final, Shanghai Day 2: China lost 3-10 to Australia, USA hard battle 11-8 against Canada

Hosts China wasted many shooting opportunities and could not opened the match under a strong defensive Australia, losing 3-10 while USA met some problems in defense in a hard battle against Canada, winning by a close margin 11-8 on the second day of FINA Women’s Water Polo World League Super Final 2016 here in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Game 5: AUSTRALIA 10 CHINA 3
Quarters: 2-0, 1-1, 4-1, 3-1

AUSTRALIA:
Lea Yanitsas, Gemma Beadsworth, Hannah Buckling, Holly Lincoln-Smith, Keesja Gofers (1), Bronwen Knox (Captain, 1), Rowie Webster (4), Glencora Mcghie (2), Zoe Arancini (1), Ashleigh Southern, Bronte Halligan, Nicola Zagame (1), Kelsey Wakefield.
Head coach: Greg McFadden

CHINA:
Yang Jun, Ma Huanhuan, Mei Xiaohan, Xiong Dunhan, Niu Guannan (1), Sun Yating (Captain), Song Doonglun, Zhang Cong, Zhao Zihan (1), Liu Shujin (1), Wang Xinyan, Zhang Jing, Peng Lin.
Head coach: Ricardo Azevedo

A 3-1 early lead in the first half and strong defense helped Australia to beat China 10-3 while China wasted many opportunities to score the ball, either hit on the bars, or missed by inches. China only started to open the gate since the second quarter and one for each quarter. Rowie Webster collected 4 goals and Glencora McGhie contributed 2 for Australia.

Quotes:

Greg McFadden (AUS): We started very well but I was disappointed in the second quarter. We totally controlled the game in the second half. Our defense was very strong tonight and offense very good. Tomorrow we will play Italy. It is another tough game.

Ricardo Azevedo (CHN): We played defensively very well, but we shouldn't have missed so many opportunities in offense. When you look at the score 10-3, it seemed big difference, but the fact was not at all. We had so many opportunities to score the goal, we had so many chances. So many time we hit the bar, or missed the net by half an inch. We could easily get the goals but we missed them all. Maybe because my girls were tired a little bit because while most the teams rested this morning, we trained hard. Right now I want them to be frustrated, tired and I try to do things to let them tired. We are preparing for the Olympic Games, we have to be better prepared and get stronger from the real competition.. We have learnt how to shot the ball in the net early from the competition.

Game 6: SPAIN 10 Brazil 6
Quarters: 2-1, 2-0, 3-3, 3-2

SPAIN: Ester Ramos Laura, Marta Bach (1), Anna Espar (2), Beatriz Ortiz, Matilde Ortiz, Paula Leiton, Clara Espar, Pilar Pena (Captain), Judith Forca (1), Roser Tarrago (2), Maica Garcia (3), Laura Lopez (1), Elena Sanchez.
Head coach: Miguel Oca

BRAZIL: Tess Oliveira, Diana Abla, Marina Zablith (Captain, 1), Camila Pedrosa, Lucianne Barroncas (1), Izabella Chiappini (2), Amanda Olilveiva (1), Luiza Carvalho, Marina Canetti, Viviane Bahia, Mariana Duarte (1), Gabriela Mantellato, Victoria Chamorro.
Head coach: Patrick Oaten

Roser Tarrago wrapped up 2 goals for Spain at the beginning of the game while her teammate Maica Garcia scored 3 in the second and fourth quarter and helped Spain a 10-6 victory over Brazil. Brazil had a good start when Izabella Chiappni tied 1-1 one minute after Tarrago's first goal but slump down 4-1 after the first half. The Brazilians managed a comeback with 3-3 and 2-3 in the following quarters.

Quotes:

Miguel Oca (ESP): We played the same level game as we did yesterday. We had everything yesterday, especially in the extra man place, but today we missed them. We need to improve on that. Tomorrow we will face the strongest team, the USA, we have to do our best to play USA. They are very strong, but we are not scared to meet them.

Patrick Oaten (BRA)：We played better than yesterday, but we can be better than that. I am trying to push them for more confidence - to play with confidence. We seemed to make mistakes that really hurt us. We need to cut down the mistakes, and if we do so we can be much better. Our team is mixed with veterans and junior players, so we need to work together to gain more experiences.

Game 7: ITALY 9 RUSSIA 8
Quarters: 3-0, 3-3, 2-2, 1-3

ITALY: Gorlero Giulia, Tabani Chiara (1), Garibotti Arianna (5), Barzon Laura, Federica Radicchi, Rossaria Alello, Di Mario Tania (1), Palmeirl Mariagrazia (1), Emmolo Giulia Enrica (1), Francesca Pomeri, Cotti Aleksandra, Frassinetti Teresa, Teani Laura.
Head Coach: Fabio Conti

RUSSIA：Anna Ustyukhina, Tatiana Zubkova, Ekaterina Prokofyeva (Captain, 1), Nadezhda Glyzina (3), Maria Borisova (1), Olga Gorbunova, Svetlaha Kuzina, Anastasia Simanovich, Anna Timofeeva, Evgeniya Soboleva, Evgeniya Ivanova (2), Anna Grineva (1), Anna Karnaukh.
Head coach: Alexander Gaidukov

Italy started high in the first quarter as Garibotti Arianna shot 3 goals before Russia opened the gate for 1-4 in the second quarter. Arianna was the top scorer of the game with 5 goals. Facing the defensive Italians, the Russians rallied in the second half and tied for the first time 8-8 with 1:55 left of the game. It was Emmolo Enrica fired the only goal for Italy with 36 seconds left in the last quarter and nailed down the victory.

Quotes:

Fabio Conti (ITA): It is normal like yesterday we played a very good start. At this moment it is important to have a good start and never mind the finish since we were just arrived two days ago and came into the game day by day. I told my girls the goal for this Super Final is to do the good start and the finish is not important. I hope our girls get in shape from next week and preparing for the Olympic Games. We did very good with strong mentality when Russians made a strong comeback. The last minute goal was in the right direction and showed our defensive minds though we are tired.

Andrei Belofastov (RUS, assistant coach): It was the same result that we lost by one goal. But the game was different that we started the game very bad, 3-0 in the first quarter and 4-0 before we found the gate in the second quarter. We had big difficulties in the attack against Italy. We played a very bad extra-man tactics while the Italians are good at this. They played very good defense. We changed our tactics a little bit after the second half and that worked. We just hoped the game could last few more minutes so we might have a chance to come back. Tomorrow we will meet the hosts China. We will try to start early and better than today. It will be one of the best game of the Super Final, I think.

Game 8: USA 11 CAN 8
Quarters: 4-2, 4-3, 1-2, 2-1

USA: Samanth Hill, Madeline Musselman (2), Melissa Seidemann (3), Rachel Fattal, Alys Williams, Margaret Steffens (Captain, 1), Courtney Mathewson (2), Kiley Neushul, Aria Fischer, Kaleigh Gilchrist (1), Makenzie Fisher (1), Kameryn Craig, Ashleigh Johnson.
Head coach: Adam Krikorian

CANADA: Jessica Gaudreault, Krystina Alogbo (Captain), Axelle Creview (2), Emma Wright, Monika Eggens (2), Kelly McMee (1), Joelle Bekhazi (3), Elyse Lemay-Lavoie, Hayley MeKelvey, Kelly Matthews, Kindred Paul, Shae Fournier, Claire Wright.
Head coach: David Faradelo

Quick attacks started the game as Courtney Mathewson tore the net first USA after 22 seconds of the game while Canada tied 1:1 23 seconds later. That set the tone of the whole game as both teams deficit were within one goals except the first quarter as US led 4-2. Melissa Seidmann of US and Joelle Bekhazi of Canada shared the top scorers as they had three goals for each team.

Quotes:

Adam Krikorian (USA): We took the 11 goals every game that meant our offense was OK but our defense had some problems today. I don't think we played very well today. The game was very close. We are not concerned about how big the lead is or how big of the deficit. We are concerned about how we played. We need to improve our defense.

David Faradelo - CAN: We had a good game and started very defensively that made a big difference of the game. We just got a good momentum on defense and block. It was a good fight. I am happy with the game that we had a defensive game. We played different games, but have something similar in the North American way, maybe because we are next to on the boarders. Tomorrow we will play Brazil which is very important for the placement of the crosses.