Lions roar at Water Polo Championships

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorised
  3. Lions roar at Water Polo Championships
Uncategorised

Photo Credit: Water Polo Australia

Sydney University Water Polo Club teams came away from the 2019 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, held in Brisbane over the past two weeks, with two gold medals, one silver and a bronze.

The club fielded 15 teams in Under 12, 14, 16 and 18 men’s and women’s competitions, with the Under 14 and 16 boys securing gold medals, the Under 18 men collecting silver and the Under 12 girls winning bronze.

The Sydney University Under 16 Boys team went through the tournament undefeated, collecting gold with a 6-4 win over Brisbane Barracudas in the final.

The Lions led 4-2 at the main break and kept their composure in the face of a Barracuda rally in the final quarter to take the title. Tyler Krenkels, Lions co-captain, scored three goals for the winners.

“It’s just the best, we’ve been working towards this for such a long time, nothing beats this feeling, absolutely nothing,” Krenkels said.

“Heading into the match we were focused on the intensity, we wanted to play it at our pace and we had a really strong first half which set us up well.”

Krenkels credited their head coach with the title. “He (Dragan Bakic) is probably our secret, he’s the mastermind and master planner, we wouldn’t be here without him,” he said.

Bakic said the Under 16s were the best group he’s ever coached.

“From the very first day they gave me so much respect and trust and I couldn’t be more proud of them because of all the hard work they’ve put in,” he said.

“There is no star player; every single one of them plays for the team which showed in the semi-final and the final today.”

The Lions went into the nationals having already secured the NSW state championships late last year.

Sydney University’s second gold came in the men’s Under 14s where the Lions accounted for Melbourne Collegians 6-5 in the final.

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

“It’s a great honour. The boys have worked so hard,” he said. “We’ve worked as a team, we’ve gone through ups and downs, and we’ve finally come through. From here we want to keep going and hopefully go through with these boys and win another.”

In a quality final, the scores were locked 5-5 at the end of the third quarter before the Lions leading goal scorer Curtis Bramley clenched victory with the only goal in the final quarter.

Lions head coach, Lindsay Cotterill was thrilled with the result.

“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,” he said.

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

 

Results

Under 12 Boys

Gold: Brisbane Barracudas defeated River City 3-0.

Silver: River City.

Bronze: Sydney Uni Lions defeated SNB Breakers 2-1.

Sydney Uni Cubs finished 9th in the 11-team competition.

 

Under 12 Girls

Gold: Brisbane Mermaids defeated SNB Breakers 3-2 in a penalty shootout.

Silver: SNB Breakers.

Bronze: Sydney Uni Lions  defeated Brisbane Girls GC 4-1.

 

Under 14 Boys

Gold: Sydney Uni Lions defeated Melbourne Collegians 6-5.

Silver: Melbourne Collegians.

Bronze: UNSW.

 

Sydney Uni Gold finished 16th in the 26-team competition.

Sydney Uni Suns finished 23rd.

 

Under 14 Girls

Gold: Brisbane Mermaids defeated All Hallows 6-0.

Silver: All Hallows.

Sydney Uni Blue finished 10th in the 24-team competition.

Sydney Uni Gold finished 22nd.

 

Under 16 Boys

Gold: Sydney Uni Lions Blue defeated Brisbane Barracudas 6-4.

Silver: Brisbane Barracudas.

Bronze: DVE Aquatic

Sydney Uni Gold finished 11th in the 30-team competition.

 

Under 16 Girls

Gold: UNSW Killer Whales Yellow.

Silver: Brisbane Mermaids Pink.

Bronze: UTS Balmain Tigers.

Sydney Uni Blue finished 4th in the 30-team competition.

Sydney Uni Gold finished 21st.

 

 

 

Under 18 Men

 

Gold: UNSW Wests Magpies defeated Sydney Uni Lions 6-2.

Silver: Sydney Uni Lions.

Bronze: River City.

SU Suns finished 17th in the 18-team competition.

 

Under 18 Women

Gold: Brisbane Mermaids.

Silver: Drummoyne.

Bronze: UTS Balmain Tigers.

Sydney Uni Lions finished 9th in the 14-team competition.

Menu