PERTH I Australia’s men’s and women’s water polo teams continued their winning momentum at the FINA World League Inter-Continental Cup overnight, both delivering impressive wins on day two of the tournament.

The Aussie Stingers (women) secured a convincing 21-3 win over South Africa, while the Aussie Sharks (men) had to battle it out in a penalty shoot out, taking a thrilling 17-15 win over Japan.

For the Aussie Stingers, they have welcomed back a host of team members who have been playing overseas including Rio Olympian Keesja Gofers, who was named player of the match and the top goal scorer of the night with five goals.

“It’s always good to play South Africa, we don’t always get the chance to play them and it was good to come out with the win. We’re happy to come away with two games, two wins so far,” said Gofers.

“Our team did really well in our counter attack and our aggressive play, so happy with how we all went.

“Some young faces in our team and a couple of older ones like myself, it’s going really good.

“We’re working together really well, there are some new skills that I haven’t seen before so we’re learning from each other which is really good,” she said.

Among the new faces included UTS Balmain Tigers young gun Nioka Thomas who at 16 years old received her first Australian Team cap.

The Aussie Stingers played a fast counter attack to open up a commanding lead over South Africa in the first quarter, 5-1.

Strong defence in the second quarter ensured the South Africans were only able to put one goal away while the Aussies delivered another four goals to extend their lead out to 9-2 at half time.

In front of a home crowd, there was no stopping the Aussie Stingers in the third quarter delivering another five goals to cement their lead 14-3 at the end of the third quarter.

Six unanswered goals in the final quarter combined with strong defence secured an impressive 21-3 victory to make it two from two for the host nation.

Experienced players lead the young side from in-front, with Gofers scoring five goals and Isobel Bishop, Rowie Webster, Amy Ridge and Perth local Zoe Arancini all delivering three goals.

Like with the Aussie Stingers, the Aussie Sharks have also benefited from welcoming home players currently playing in Europe including Olympian Joe Kayes who was awarded Player of the Match.

After a slow start in game one, Kayes said the team were keen to come out strong, early.

“It’s never easy playing the Japanese; they throw everything at you. We went into the last quarter up six goals but they punished us for those little mistakes,” said Kayes.

“They (Japan) are probably the best counter attacking team in the world.

“It was hard to play… kept going back and forward so there was no real momentum. But we’re happy with the win and looking to move forward.

“It was a plan of ours to come out strong and show that we weren’t hurt last night. We’ve fallen behind in previous games with these guys (Japan) so we didn’t want to start on the back foot,” he said.

It was an early goal from Kayes that got the Aussie Sharks off to a solid start. Japan responded with two quick goals, until Hollis settled things with a goal as well as a huge defensive effort to save a goal at the other end.

Blake Edwards scored on the stroke of quarter time to give the Aussies 3-2 lead at the break.

Nic Brooks caught Japan by surprise scoring off the swim up just eight seconds into the second quarter. The Edwards brothers, Blake and Lachlan Edwards scored a goal a piece with Kayes delivering an absolute cracker to close out scoring for the second half and give the Sharks a 7-2 lead at half time.

The quality side Japan is, saw them come out strong after the main break scoring three unanswered goals to narrow the lead to two. It was Kayes who again stepped up for the Aussie Sharks for this third goal of the night, with Brooks scoring late in the period to help the team maintain a four-point lead, 9-5, at the end of the third quarter.

It was clear early in the final quarter the game was going to go down to the wire, with Japan once again coming out of the break firing with two unanswered goals. While Blake Edwards responded for the Aussie Sharks, Japan wasn’t giving up without a fight to deliver four unanswered goals and take, 11-10 lead with just minutes left in the match.

Dual Olympian AJ Roach under pressure and with two seconds on the shot clock, scored to leveled the scores 11-11. But another quick goal from Japan that put them ahead 12-11, Roach was again under pressure, scoring with just five seconds on the game clock to take the match into a penalty shoot-out.

The high pressure stakes of a penalty shoot-out saw the Aussie Sharks keep their cool with a perfect scoring record courtesy of Richie Campbell, Kayes, Blake Edwards, Roach and Brooks. Hrysanthos in goals was outstanding proving all the difference, with big saves delivering the Aussie Sharks a 17-15 victory.

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RESULTS

WOMEN

China 24 defeated New Zealand 7

USA 18 defeated Japan 7

Canada 13 defeated Kazakhstan 4

Australia 21 defeated South Africa 3

MEN

Canada 18 defeated South Africa 4

China 14 defeated New Zealand 7

Kazakhstan 11 defeated Argentina 5

Australia 17 defeated Japan 15 (penalty shoot-out full time 12-12)

PROGRESSIVE POINTS

WOMEN

Group A: USA 6, China 3, Japan 3, New Zealand 0
Group B: Australia 6, Canada 3, Kazakhstan 3, South Africa 0

MEN

Group A: Australia 5, Japan 4, Canada 3, South Africa 0.
Group B: Kazakhstan 6, China 4, Argentina 2, New Zealand 0