World University Games Water Polo – Women
- July 2-14, 2019
- Naples, Italy
- Time: UTC +2; 6 hours earlier than ET
- 10 Teams Per Gender
- Preview | Pool Play Recap | Round of 16 Recap
- Results
France claimed ninth place in women’s water polo at the World University Games, while the fifth through eight place seeding matches also were played on Thursday.
Japan and Australia claimed spots in the fifth place game with wins in seeding matches, defeating the United States and China respectively. Both the fifth and seventh place matches will be played on Friday.
Thursday Results
- France def. Czech Republic 22-10
- Japan def. USA 10-9
- Australia def. China 12-7
France def. Czech Republic 22-10
France got seven goals each from Morgane Le Roux and Yaelle Deschampt in a 22-10 shellacking of the Czech Republic to claim ninth place. Laurine Bacquet added four scores, while Anaelle Grass chipped in a hat trick for the victors.
Nikola Busauerova managed four goals to lead the Czechs followed by Barbora Hlavata‘s two scores.
The French scored first on a Le Roux penalty shot less than 20 seconds in. The Czechs replied with an action shot goal by Hlavata. From there, France scored six of the next seven goals to go up 7-2 after the first quarter.
The French led 10-3 at the half and then outscored the Czechs 12-7 down the stretch.
Japan def. USA 10-9
The United States outscored Japan 4-2 in the second, but came up just short of completing the comeback in the first fifth through eighth place seeding match on Thursday.
Fuka Nishiyama scored four goals for Japanese, while Yuri Kazama and Fuka Tsunoda added two apiece.
Abrielle Hill found the back of the net five times for Team USA, while Ava Johnson added two goals.
The teams were tied at three six minutes into the game, but Japan pushed ahead 6-3 with an extra player shot and two counter attack goals.
Johnson hit an extra player shot with 20 seconds left in the first quarter and added an action shot at the six minute mark of the second stanza to pull the USA within two at 7-5.
Down 8-5 at halftime, the USA began to chip away, scoring the lone goal of the third quarter on a Hill center shot goal midway through. Hill then added an extra-player goal at the 5:24 mark in the fourth quarter to cut the margin to one at 8-7. Tsunoda added an extra-player goal at 3:53 and Nishiyama scored the eventual game winner just 36 seconds later to make it 10-8. Denise Mammolito pushed across an extra-player shot with 1:10 to play, but that marked the final shot of the game for the Americans.
Australia def. China 12-7
A four-goal third period provided the cushion Australia needed to withstand a late run by China in the second seeding match.
Brooke McClean and Alice Williams turned in hat tricks for the Aussies among six goal scorers.
Sanfeng Nong and Ying Zhai scored two goals apiece for China.
Williams hit a penalty shot just a minute into the game, Andrews followed with a center shot goal (3:30) and Pontre chipped in a 5-meter shot with under a minute left in the first quarter to give Australia a 3-1 lead.
China was within one at 4-3 with 56 seconds left in the first half, but the Aussies rattled off five straight goals to go up 9-3 with eight minutes to play.
It was soon an eight-point game at 12-4 as Williams netted a penalty shot at the 3:33 mark in the final stanza. China scored the final three goals of the game with a center shot goal by Yan as well as a 5-meter shot and extra-player shot by Nong.