Women’s Water Polo World Championships: Greece Defeats USA, Hungary Takes Down Spain
The quest for the U.S. women to win a ninth world title in women’s water polo came to an end Monday when Greece knocked out the American team in the quarterfinals. Hours later, Spain’s hopes of backing up an Olympic title with another gold medal in Singapore were dashed by the team from Hungary.
In the first semifinal match, Greece took a 6-5 lead over the U.S. at halftime and maintained a 9-8 advantage heading into the final period. In crunch time for the Americans, they were only able to muster two further goals while Greece scored four on the way to a 14-10 victory.
Vasiliki Plevritou led the way for the Greek team with four goals on seven shots while Stefania Santa and Eleni Xenaki each went 3-for-6. Goalkeeper Ioanna Stamatopoulou recorded 12 saves.
“It was amazing today. We played really good. My team is ready for the final, ready for the gold,” Greek team captain Eleftheria Plevritou said. “We played amazing in the last minutes. We controlled the game with the time. We were in front by three goals, and we also raised that to four goals. I’m proud of my team, and we are ready for the gold.”
The appearance in the Worlds final will be the first for Greece since 2011. Last year, the team was on the verge of qualifying before losing to Hungary in a semifinal shoot-out. Greece then missed the medals after falling 10-9 to Spain in the final.
“I think it was like a curse, if I can say that. We had a great team, great players throughout the years, but what was missing was that we didn’t believe in ourselves. We didn’t have the confidence that we needed,” Plevritou said. “After the gold medal in the World Cup a few months ago in China, I think we gained that confidence that helped us to come here stronger, with a clear mind, that we know that we can do it and I think we did it. Of course, we have one more game, the most important, but I’m really proud of my team.”
For the Americans, Jewel Roemer, Emma Lineback and Emily Ausmus each scored two goals, but a 1-for-7 performance from Jenna Flynn hurt their chances of advancing. Amanda Longan saved only 6 of 20 shots on goal.
“I’m proud of the effort,” U.S. coach Adam Krikorian said. “We gave it everything we had today. At the end of the day, the Greek team were just incredible. They’re much better than we are right now, I think that’s clear. Our inexperience and inability to handle some physicality and disorganization offensively that led to some easy goals for them – that’s their strength, their ability to use their speed and score on the counter-attack.”
In the second semifinal, Hungary’s Dorottya Szilagyi and Rita Keszthelyi each scored three goals as the team jumped out to an early 6-2 lead after the first quarter and 11-4 halfway through the match. Vanda Valyi and Dora Leimeter each scored two goals while Boglarka Neszmely was supreme in goal with 14 saves on 23 attempts. “Honestly, I don’t know how I did it,” she admitted afterward when asked about making so many impressive saves during the match.
“It was a perfect win from us,” Neszmely said. “Our team, we played really, really good water polo. We did what the coach said so thanks to my teammates, thanks to my coach and to everybody who helped us. I’m so blessed to be a part of this team because it’s a huge thing for us, reaching the final. Our team is basically a new team and we have a lot of young players, including me, so it’s a huge thing for us. It means everything because Hungary is a water polo nation, and I’m so thankful.”
Spain kept things even in the second half but was unable to eat into the margin. Bea Ortiz only scored two goals despite taking nine shots, and Elena Ruiz Barril was the top performer with three.
“I think especially the start of the game wasn’t great, and we weren’t able to come back. I think things weren’t working in offence, but then one of the things, one of the strengths of this team is the defense, and it wasn’t our day either,” Spain’s Anni Espar Llaquet said. “Obviously, now we need to learn from the mistakes and focus on the next game. We’re still fighting for a medal so we’re gonna give our best and keep learning, keep growing as a team.”
Greece and Hungary will square off for gold Wednesday after the American and Spanish teams meet in a clash for bronze.
Additionally, Australia and the Netherlands will play for a shot at fifth place in the tournament. Australia beat Japan by a score of 21-17 Monday, with Tilly Kearns and Danijela Jackovich scoring five goals apiece and Sienna Hearn going 4-4.
“We grinded them down slowly,” Kearns said. “We knew how Japan played, we watched a lot of footage and prepared really well. Maybe our strength and our size got the edge on them today because we were able to get a lot of inside turns and our center forwards were able to do their jobs.”
The typically-strong Dutch squad, the Olympic bronze medalists, rebounded from their quarterfinal loss with a 16-13 win over Italy. Maartje Keuning and Lieke Rogge led the way with three goals each in that winning effort. The team overcame the loss of Simone Van De Kraats to a red card to secure the win.
In placement matches, China beat New Zealand 10-6 to secure ninth place in the tournament while Great Britain won 14-9 over France for 11th place overall.
