ROARING SUCCESS FOR LIONS U14 MEN’S TEAM

Sydney Uni Lions will be roaring all the way back to New South Wales, after claiming gold in the U14 Men's Australian Youth Water Polo Championships with a 6-5 win over Melbourne Collegians.

It was a big day for the Sydney Uni Lions Club, who managed to book a spot in both the U14 and U18 Men’s divisions.

The young Lions were undefeated throughout the tournament with Captain Lucas Young saying the result was on the back of months of hard work.

“It’s a great honour. The boys have worked so hard…. we’ve worked as a team, we’ve gone through ups and downs, and we’ve finally come through,” said Young.

“From here we want to keep going and hopefully go through with these boys and win another.”

The fierce rivalry between these two sides delivered an even match up, with scores locked 5-5 at the end of the third quarter.

Leading goal scorer for the Lions, Curtis Bramley, clenched the victory for his side with the only goal in the final quarter.

But with 3:41 minutes left on the clock, there was still a lot of polo left in the match with the crowd and the bench riding every second.  

Water polo stalwart and Lions Head Coach, Lindsay ‘Silverback’ Cotterill, couldn’t hide the emotions on pool deck when that final buzzer rang out. Straight into the pool, Cotterill's pride in his young team was felt by all.  

“We thought when we came, we would play Collegians (Melbourne Collegians), they are by far the best disciplined and best drilled team, we knew it was going to be hard,” said Cotterill.

“It’s back to back for our team now, it’s just a great feeling for these kids.

“With these guys, we’ve done the same thing at the club since they were little boys.

“Every game we play, that is not a championship game, every boy in the team gets action and equal game time.

“For these boys they are very lucky, our junior club structure is fantastic at the moment. So, when they go up in age, they’ll be very well facilitated for, and another group will come in under them and I’ll stay with those guys coming through,” he said.

The podium was rounded out by UNSW Wests after they were 13-6 victors against UWA City Beach Bears for the bronze medal.

For full results – visit the Match Centre.

Want to watch the game? Catch the game in full on OVO Play.

2019 14&U Men's Australian Youth Water Polo Championships Standings:

Gold - Sydney Uni Blue
Silver - Melbourne Collegians
Bronze - UNSW
4th - UWA Bears
5 - Melville Sharks
6 - Sunshine Coast
7 - Ovens & Murray
8 - Drummoyne
9 - ACU Cronulla Sharks
10 - Canberra Dolphins
11 - SNB Breakers
12 - Adelaide Jets
13 - Barras
14 - Central Coast
15 - Hunter Hurricanes
16 - Sydney Uni Gold
17 - UTS Balmain
18 - Melville Saints
19 - Ryde/UTS
20 - River City
21    Polo Bears Ice
22 - MEL/DVE
23 - Sydney Uni Suns
24 - Cudas
25 - UWA Gold
26 - Polo Bears Warriors