Australia win Intercontinental Cup with dominant victory over USA

March 13, 2022

Photo: FINA Media

As the Intercontinental Cup draws to a close in Lima, Paul Oberman’s Australia have clinched the Gold Medal in a very decent week for the Aussies. Beating the United States on the final day, they had already seen off much of the competition, including Canada – who finishes this time in 2nd.

Canada were able to finish second due to a crushing victory over Colombia – Verica Bakoc led the way with a double-trio of goals, while her compatriot and captain Gurpreet Sohi will be happy with her four conversions.

Elsewhere, it was jubilation for Argentina as they have secured a place in the FINA World Championships this Summer in Budapest with a very close 12-11 win over American rivals, Cuba.

Australia 11-4 USA (3-0, 0-1, 3-2, 5-1)

Australia: G. Palm, P. Casey 1, B. McClean 4, B. Halligan, B. Leeson-Smith, A. Andrews, C. Andrews, A. Ridge, Z. Arancini 3, L. Mihailovic 1, T. Fasala 1, H. Ballesty, G. Longman

USA: A. Longan, A. Pearson, R. Gazzaniga, E. Woodhead, G. Rossi, M. Hawkins, J. Bonaguidi, J. Flynn 1, E. Ausmus 2, M. Netherton 1, T. Smith, A. Stryker, C. Carpenter

Australia secured an Intercontinental Cup Grand-Slam with a final day romping over the United States. In a fantastic display from the Stingers, who have qualified for the World League Super Finals, Brooke McClean scored a squad of goals, with a supplementary hat-trick from Zoe Arancini – who had a fantastic all-round game.

While it is unusual to see the USA lose, and lose to such a margin, this competition obviously needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. The vastly more experienced and physically superior Australia were always favourites for this match-up.

While its a Bronze medal for Ethan Demato’s very young USA side, this was by no means a bad tournament for them. It’s clear they have a glut of young and developing talent – Ausmus, Pearson and Smith to name just a few. There is no doubt that we will see many of these exciting young stars being integrated into Adam Krikorian’s senior team in the years to come.