GWANGJU, South Korea (Team Canada) – The gold medal match of women’s water polo came down to penalty shots after Canada and Australia played to a 3-3 tie in regulation time. The Australian keeper, Lilian Hedges, came up with three saves to be the hero for the gold-medal winning Aussies.
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The silver medal is Canada’s first in women’s water polo at the Universiade. The previous top finish was fourth (2013 in Kazan, Russia, and 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia).
All game long, the defence was suffocating on both sides and chances in front of the net were few and far between. Australia opened the scoring on a soft shot from the left side at 4:57 in the first quarter, but it would be nearly fifteen minutes before they would score again. Canada’s defence reacted quickly, sending double and triple teams to the ball when it got inside.
“We knew it would be a tight game and very physical,” said head coach David Paradello of Montreal, Que. “The Australians were bigger than us, but we executed the game plan well. We had our chances to score, and that is difficult to get against that team.”
Axelle Crevier (Montreal, Que.) evened the score for Canada with a strong shot from the top at 3:40 in the first and Kyra Christmas (High River, Alta.) put Canada ahead with a perfect shot into the top corner with 47 seconds remaining before half time.
Australia worked the ball all the way around the offence to draw even with a man advantage at 6:09 of the third.
Australia’s quickness showed in the sprints - they won the first three - but Canada won first possession in the fourth quarter. The posts were on Canada’s side in the fourth with several strong Aussie shots finding the bar while the third Canadian goal rebounded off the post, hit the keeper, and bounced back in. Kelly Matthews (Roxboro, Que.) was credited with the score.
Australia snuck a goal under the arm of Canadian goalkeeper Nicola Colterjohn (Hamilton, Ont.) at the 2:31 mark to tie the score and despite timeouts to set up final possessions for both sides, that was the end of the regulation scoring.
“We were pretty tired but we just kept on going, we wanted it really badly,” said Matthews. “It’s hard to lose a game like that, but in the end I’m very happy with the result that we got. We came together as a team and I’m really proud of what we did.”
“It was an incredible experience. We went to see other team sports in action, and I believe it motivated us and gave us a bigger sense of team spirit. All of the players are better because of it,” added Paradello to sum up the two weeks at the Universiade.
About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
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