USA WIN FINA WORLD CHAMPS BY NARROWEST OF MARGINS
(April 1st, 2007) One goal is all that separated them at the end of full time. In a match that came down to the final 16 seconds, the United States has taken the gold medal in the women's water polo final against Australia with a 6-5 win at the 12th FINA World Championships.
It was a low-scoring match but only because of the strength of American Elizabeth Armstrong and Australian Emma Knox the two goalkeepers. In fact, following the match, Armstrong was named goalkeeper of the tournament. Both keepers played the game of their lives, saving far more shots than they let in. "It felt great. It's amazing to come to a world championships the year before the Olympics and be able to do that," Armstrong said.
The final term was a thriller and the USA went into the last quarter with a 5-4 lead. On the four-minute mark, Australian Nikita Cuffe scored a sneaky goal right as the referee blew his whistle for an exclusion and levelled the scores at 5-5.
American Lauren Wenger tried to score on the counter-attack but was stopped by Knox. She tried again soon after, this time with a fantastic set play that involved her team-mate Heather Petri throwing the ball across the ball to the far post where Wenger batted it in behind the keeper. Wenger's goal was to be the last of the match.
Australian Gemma Hadley tried to shoot with 25 seconds remaining but American keeper Armstrong saved that one and another shot at 16 seconds. Australian coach Greg McFadden called a time-out to implore his troops but there just wasn't enough time and the USA took the gold medal.
Both teams had had earlier opportunities but nerves in such a big match saw shots either sailing over the top or missing and hitting the crossbar and posts. Both keepers also made some good saves early on.
American Brenda Villa notched 3 goals in the US winning efforts. "We've been working really hard and I'm just really amazed right now," Villa said. "We were just trying to focus on our game plan and see if it came and obviously it did, so we're really happy right now. Australia is a really good team and it was a really tough game."
Despite tears from Australian captain Melissa Rippon, she conceded the silver medal still meant a lot to her team. "Second in the world, it's still pretty exciting," It's nothing to be ashamed of, we're still really proud."
The silver medal put Australia among the favourites for next years Beijing Olympics and gives the girls something to aim for.
Both Barracudas players representing Australia in this World Championships, Kate Gynther and Melissa Rippon were selected as part of the tournament All-Star Team as voted by media representatives! Tournament awards were as follows:
Top scorer: Blanca Gil (ESP) with 20 goals – official FINA Award
Best goalkeeper: Elisabeth Armstrong (USA) – official FINA Award
Tournament MVP: Lauren Wenger (USA) – by media representatives
All Star Team – voted by media representatives
Elisabeth Armstrong (USA) - goalkeeper
Sofia Konukh (RUS)
Kate Gynther (AUS)
Lauren Wenger (USA)
Blanca Gil (ESP)
Melissa Rippon (AUS)
Ágnes Primász (HUN)