The top four teams of the Italian Championships, Pro Recco, Ortigia, Sport Management, Brescia and Trieste, achieved solid wins in the 9th round.
Two matches offered thrilling finishes. Salerno defeated Roma with a last-gasp goal (12:11), while Savona prevailed Posillipo in Naples 12:10.
Italian League 2019/20, Round 9
Lazio – Sport Management 10:13 (3:3, 1:4, 3:4, 3:2)
Lazio: D. Giorgi 5, Leporale 3, Ferrante 1, Vitale 1.
Banco Bpm Sport Management: Lanzoni 4, C. Mirarchi 3, Damonte 2, Casasola 2, Lo Dico 1, Valentino 1.
Pro Recco – Quinto 19:5 (5:1, 4:1, 5:2, 5:1)
Pro Recco: F. Di Fulvio 6, Echenique 4,Mandic 2, Fondelli 2, Aicardi 2, Figlioli 1, Ivovic 1, Dobud 1.
Iren Quinto: Lindhout 2, M. Guidi 2, Gavazzi 1.
Brescia -Telimar 11:7 (5:0, 1:2, 4:2, 1:3)
Brescia: C. Presciutti 5, Figari 2, Alesiani 1, Buha 1, Rivetti 1, Bertoli 1.
Telimar: Del Basso 3, M. Zammit 3, Saric 1.
Salerno – Roma 12:11 (3:2, 4:3, 3:1, 2:5)
Campolongo H. R.N. Salerno: Elez 3, M. Luongo 2, Tomasic 2, Cuccovillo 2, Gandini 1, Galletta 1, Parrilli 1.
Roma Nuoto: Tartaro 3, Camilleri 2, Ciotti 1, F. Faraglia 1, Paskovic 1, M. Lapenna 1, De Robertis 1, Innocenzi 1.
Trieste – Florentia 14:10 (5:1, 5:5, 2:3, 2:1)
Trieste: K. Milakovic 3, Vico 3, Mezzarobba 3,Rocchi 2, Gogov 2, Panerai 1.
Florentia: Razzi 3, Astarita 2, Coppoli 1, Lynde 1, F. Turchini 1, Bini 1, A. Di Fulvio 1.
Posillipo -Savona 10:12 (2:2, 1:3, 2:4, 5:3)
Posillipo: Marziali 6, G. Di Martire 1, Silvestri 1, Ricci 1, Saccoia 1.
Savona: E. Novara 3, Caldieri 2, Vuskovic 2, Molina 2, Rizzo 2, L. Bianco 1.
Canottieri Naples – Ortigia 8:13 (2:3, 1:2, 1:4, 4:4)
Canottieri Naples: Borrelli 3, Confuorto 1, Cerchiara 1, Massa 1, Patterson 1, Esposito 1.
Ortigia: Giacoppo 4, La Rosa 2, Napolitano 2, Cassia 1, Di Luciano 1, Ferrero 1, Rossi 1, Vidovic 1.
After defeating Brescia in the 8th round, Sport Management continued its winning streak, by beating Lazio in Rome. The first quarter was balanced (3:3). Then Sport Management produced a 7:2 rush and earned a 10:5 advantage in the 21st minute. Lazio couldn’t come back after that. Sport Management, led by Guido Lanzoni (4 goals) recorded a 13:10 victory.
Pro Recco beat Quinto easily 19:5. A Croatian goalkeeper Marko Bijac returned to the team after a month and a half. He had a long pause because of a serious injury. He played in the last quarter, with a mask to protect the broken cheekbone. This was his first match in the season.
Brescia hosted Telimar. The home team had a 5:0 lead after the first quarter. Early in the fourth, Brescia built a 7-goal advantage (11:4) and let the visitors reduce the gap in the last three minutes (11:7).
The encounter between Salerno and Roma was decided in the last few minutes. Salerno had a nice 10:5 lead in the middle of the third quarter. Roma scored four goals in a row to cut the deficit to 1 (9:10) in the fourth minute of the last quarter. Shortly after that, Salerno doubled an advantage (11:9), but Roma managed to equalise – 11:11 with 01:27 to go. Still, Salerno had the last laugh. Parrilli scored a winner just 14 seconds before the last buzzer – 12:11.
Savona defeated Posillipo in Naples. The visitors secured the win in the middle two quarters. After the first quarter, the rivals were tied (2:2). However, Savona took control in the next two periods and built a nice 9:5 lead before the last period. The fourth quarter belonged to the hosts, which managed to come very close twice – 9:10 in the 6th minute of the last quarter and 10:11 with 0:39 remaining on the clock. Savona’s Molina hit the back of the net nine seconds from the final buzzer for the final score – 12:10.
Ortigia keeps the second place in the table. The Sicilians visited Naples where they faced last-placed Canottieri. In the opening minutes of the last quarter, Ortigia earned a safe 7:3 lead and controlled the game until the end (13:8)
Trieste opened the match against Florentia with a 4:0 series. Florentia water polo players managed to regroup themselves during the first break and started climbing back. Early in the third period, the Florence-based team was trailing just by a goal (9:10). Trieste responded with 4 straight goals and went 14:9 up in the 2nd minute of the last quarter to secure a win (14:10).
1 Pro Recco 9 – 27
2 Ortigia 9 – 24
3 Sport Management 9 – 22
4 Brescia 9 – 21
5 Trieste 9 – 17
6 Savona 8 – 11
7 Salerno 9 – 11
8 Roma 9 – 8
9 Quinto 8 – 8
10 Florentia 8 – 8
11 Lazio 8 – 7
12 Posillipo 9 – 5
13 Telimar 9 – 4
14 Canottieri 9 – 1
