Aussie Stingers World Aquatics World Cup Campaign

Game 6 | AUS v CHN

Four unanswered goals in the final quarter have delivered the Aussie Stingers a 12-7 victory in their final group game at the Women's Water Polo World Cup in Athens.

China opened the scoring but the two sides traded goals to go to the first break locked 2-2.

The Stingers got out to a two-goal advantage in the second quarter, however China brought it back to a one-goal game at half-time and an evenly-matched third quarter saw that margin maintained going into the last eight minutes.

However Australia asserted their dominance in the final quarter, running away with the match for a five-goal win.

Player of the match Amy Ridge said it was good to finish their two weeks of action on a high.

"Coming off a disappointing week in Rotterdam last week we have definitely been on an upwards trajectory," said Ridge. "Today was a really important win for us leading in to World Champs, particularly with China in our group.

"We are looking forward to the international season ahead of us and building on this momentum."

Game 5 | AUS v GRE

The Aussie Stingers have produced a thrilling win in a penalty shoot out against Greece at the Women's Water Polo World Cup in Athens overnight.

The teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, scoring four goals each before Greece put their foot down in the second quarter to take an 9-11 lead into the half time break.

In the third quarter, the Aussie Stingers regained mometum, pushing the scoreline out to 13-12, with one quarter left to play.

In the last quarter, both teams produced a fierce contest, and were unable to be separated at the end of ordinary time, the scores locked at 15-15 forcing them into a penalty shoot out.

The Stingers held their nerve in the shoot out, netting all of their penalty shots to earn their first win of the World Cup.

Aussie Stingers Head Coach Paul Oberman said he was proud of his team's effort, and thrilled with the end result.

"It was a great result to get our first win," Oberman said.

"In the game we performed under pressure in the penalty shoot out.

"Defensively we must work on our communication and coordination as 15 goals is too many against us. We play China tomorrow and we are looking to rectify our defensive errors and continue to score some beautiful goals," he said.

The Aussie Stingers play China tonight at 9pm AEST - live on YouTube. 

For full results - click here.

Game 4 | AUS v ESP

The second round of the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup commenced overnight with the Aussie Stingers going down by the narrowest of margins to Spain 8-9 in Athens.

The Tokyo Olympics silver medallists were out of the blocks quickly with the first three goals of the match, with Australia getting on the board with just three seconds left in the opening quarter.

Three goals in less than two minutes saw Australia take the lead midway through the second quarter, however Spain were able to equalise before the two sides traded goals to leave the match deadlocked 5-all at half-time.

Momentum swung throughout the third quarter with Spain opening up a three-goal advantage before Australia reeled it back to just a one-goal deficit going into the final eight minutes.

Spain doubled their advantage before Australia brought the margin back to one midway through the fourth quarter. Australia continued to press however two saved shots in the last minute saw Spain win a hard-fought encounter.

"We had a positive game today against Spain and I am proud of our performance," said Stingers coach Paul Oberman. "We had some very good goals, good movements and strong defence. We continue to create excellent opportunities and with the added experience gained internationally, we will learn to capatilise on these chances.

"Over the course of the tour we have gotten better from each game. We need to keep these experiences - learn from them and build.

"The most important aspect for this team is to build the team dynamic and player connections. We have athletes in USA, Europe and Australia and the more we are together the better we will become."

The Aussie Stingers face hosts Greece tonight at 1am AEST - live on YouTube. 

For full results - click here.

Game 3 | AUS v GRE

The Aussie Stingers have gone down fighting in their third game of the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup, a three goal loss to European powerhouses Greece 7-10.

The Aussies started strong, outscoring the Greeks 4-3 in the first quarter, before the scores were levelled 4-all at half time.

In the third quarter, the Greeks were formidable in defence, edging ahead to a 6-8 lead, adding another two goals in the final quarter to claim the win.

Tokyo Olympian Gabi Palm said although the result is disappointing, the team will take their learnings from the game into the second phase of the tournament in Greece.

"We're disappointed with the last few days. We had our opportunities and we just weren't able to convert them," Palm said.

"But we know what we need to do and we still have three more games left to do it," she said.

The Aussie Stingers will now head to Athens, Greece, for the second phase of the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup, which gets underway on 19 April 2023.

For full results - click here.

Game 2 I AUS v HUN

The Aussie Stingers were delivered another tough blow at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup opening stages, going down to European heavy weights Hungary 17-11. 

The Hungarians opened the match strongly, setting up a healthy 6-2 lead at the end of the first half.  The Aussie Stingers rebounded to outscore them 4-2 in the second quarter and put themselves within two goals at half time.

But a physical Hungarian outfit dominated the third period, taking the scoeline out to 12-7 leading into the final period.  The Aussie Stingers once again showed their grit in an evenly matched final period that saw both sides score 4 a piece. 

Tokyo Olympian Abby Andrews said the team will take plenty away from this match as they look to regoup for tonight's match against Greece. 

"We had a bit of a slow start which is hard to recover from. We had a great second quarter that we won 4-2 [goals].

"They bought a lot of physicality and we had to shuffle around a few of our players.  I don't think we bought our best game tonight, but there are lots of things to learn from. We are young and still kicking... we know we can beat them in a quarter and in a game, but we just didn't bring that tonight," she said. 

The Aussie Stingers will now face Greece tonight at 10:00pm AEST - live on YouTube. 

For full results - click here.

Game 1 I AUS v NED

The Aussie Stingers opened their 2023 World Aquatics World Cup campaign against host side the Netherlands overnight. 

Coming out strong the Aussie Stingers were able to set up a small 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The hosts responded strongly in the second quarter thanks to the local support, leading 5-4 at half time. 

There was nothing between the two sides in the third period, both scoring two goals a piece to keep the game within a one goal margin heading into the final quarter. 

But the Netherlands managed to power home in the final stages of the game, outsourcing the Aussies 4-1, with the final score Australia 7 to Netherlands 11. 

Aussie Stingers Head Coach Paul Oberman reflected post match saying: “We started well, but put ourselves under pressure in the middle of the game due to some inaccurate passing.   

“We showed good fight at the end of the game but we need to show that consistently throughout the whole game.    

“Our general coordination in defence was good, especially extra man defence.  In our attack, we need to move more explosively to create opportunities.”

Next up, Australia faces European powerhouse Hungary on Thursday 13 April at 4:30am AEST.  Watch live on World Aquatics YouTube.