Roma, Plebiscito and Ekipe storm to victory, leaving rivals in their wake

January 21, 2023

18-year-old Giulia Lombella (Bogliasco). Photo: Bogliasco 1951.

Matchday 10 of the women’s A1 in Italy saw the big guns secure straight-forward victories on the road.

SIS Roma secured their tenth consecutive victory with a 17-10 win over Trieste, led by Abby Andrews’ double hat-trick and five goals from Sofia Giustini. Meanwhile Plebiscito downed Como 21-5 in a dominant performance; Ekipe Orizzonte outclassed Florentia, winning 24-3, and Rapallo shut out RN Bologna in the first half on their way to a 15-7 win in Liguria.

Toward the bottom half of the table, Bogliasco 1951 collected some important points in their fourth win of the season, defeating Brizz Nuoto 13-8, with Paola Di Maria scoring four goals.

Roma are still unbeaten in the league so far, with Plebiscito and Ekipe following shortly behind them. Rapallo Pallanuoto is making a strong push for the 4th Play-off position – and Champions League spot – currently sitting in the fourth position with 18 points.

Pallanuoto Trieste 10 – 17 SIS Roma (3-4, 3-5, 3-5, 1-3)

Trieste: F. Sparano, D. Vomastkova 1, E. De March 2, B. Bozzeta, G. Marussi, L. Cergol 2, G. Klatowski, F. Colletta 2, G. Zizz, J. Vukovic 1, I. Riccioli 1, R. Santapaola, G. Gregorutti

Roma: E. Eichelberger, L. Papi, G.Galardi, M. Msiti, S. Giustini 5, C. Ranalli 2, D. Picozzi 1, c. Tabani 1, C. Nardini 2, L. Di Claudio, A. Cocchiere, A. Andrews 6, Galbani

SIS Roma have their tenth successive victory of the season with a 17-10 victory over Trieste.

Roma’s attackers were in typically inspired form, with Aussie Stinger, Abby Andrews, notching a double hat-trick, alongside the Setterosa’s starlet, Sofia Giustini who netted five times.

Giustini opened the scoring, followed up by two of Abby Andrews six goals to put the league leaders up 4-3 heading into the second quarter.

And while Czech centre-forward, Daniela Vomastkova, converted a nice extra-player move, five goals for Roma, which included a second quarter hat-trick for Andrews, put them ahead by three scores (9-6).

Roma all but secured the points towards the back end of the third quarter, with Giustini, Picozzi and Tabani putting the Romans 14-8 up just before the end of the third. Roma saw the game out with a 3-1 last quarter (Two more from Giustini & a score from Andrews).

Como Nuoto 5 – 21 Plebiscito Padova (2-6, 0-3, 2-5, 1-7)

Como: G. Frassinelli, M. Romano, M. Fisco, E. Borg 2, A. Giraldo, R. Bianchi, A. Iannarelli, B. Romano, G. Lanzoni 3, A. Cassano, F. Cattaneo, A. Volpato

Padova: L. Teani, L. Barzon 2, V. Valyi 3, G. Citino 2, E. Queirolo 1, A. Casson 4, A. Millo 3, S. Dario 1, H. McKelvey 1, C. Meggiato, S. Centanni 3, B. Cassara, C. Giacon

Plebiscito secured a convincing win over Como with a final score of 21-5. It was a dominant performance from Plebiscito, who controlled the game from start to finish.

Padova executed their game plan effectively, and a flashy attacking threat gave them a platform to assert themselves in the game.

Stefano Posterivo’s team was in control from the start of the game, but they particularly shone in the second quarter, locking Como out in a 3-0 quarter. The side from Padova had a strong last quarter too, winning it 7-1.

Plebiscito’s Alessia Casson, Vanda Valyi, Alissa Millo and Sara Centanni proved to be a formidable attacking threat in the frontcourt. Casson scored a game-high total of 4 goals.

RN Florentia 3 – 24 Ekipe Orizzonte (0-6, 1-6, 0-8, 2-4)

Florentia: C. Banchelli, A. Gattini, C. Barbieri, S. Cordovani, G. Gasparri, E. Cacacciolo, L. Nesti, B. Mugani 1, M. Osti, B. Merli 1, I. Landi, E. Gabelli, G. Pellegrino

Ekipe: L. Celona, B. Halligan, C. Grasso, G. Viacava, V. Gant 2, D. Bettini 3, V. Palmieri, C. Marletta 3, G. Gagliardi 3, A. Williams 2, A. Longo, M. Leone, A. Condorelli

Ekipe Orizzonte had no trouble in defeating Florentia, dominating the game with a final score of 24-3.

With a 6-0 first-quarter lead, Ekipe jumped out to a commanding early advantage. Florentia tried to make a comeback in the second quarter, but Ekipe’s defence held strong and they extended their lead to 12-1. In the third quarter, Ekipe’s offence truly shone, scoring 8 unanswered goals and putting the game out of reach for Florentia.

Despite the clear outcome, the players of Florentia refused to give up and managed to score 2 goals in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome.

Ekipe’s players Dafne Bettini, Giuditta Gagliardi and Claudia Marletta, all members of the Italian national team, each scored three goals. The win keeps Ekipe second in the league

While the reigning champions are in no way out of the title race, their primary focus will be on their Champions League quarter-final clashes with Glyfada in February.

Rapallo Pallanuoto 15 – 7 RN Bologna (3-0, 6-0, 2-4, 4-3)

Rapallo: S. Caso, N. Zanetta 1, U. Gitto 4, I. Rossi, D. Carrasco Leyva 2, L. Vanelo, G. Cerliani, B. Carbona 1, C. Marcialis 3, S. Costa 1, R. Bianconi 2, G. Aplilongo 1

Bologna: O. Sesena, A. Repetto 1, V. Perna, R. Lekness 3, A. Mazzia, E. Farneti, C. Morselli 1, M. Lepore 1, M. Marchetti 1, L. Redaelli, E. Altamura, F. Toth, M. Allotta

A 9-0 shut-out in the first half from Rapallo was more than enough for them to ease past RN Bologna, 15-7.

Ursula Gitto was the leading scorer for the hosts, with two scores in the first half, and two in the second.

Trailing by three after eight minutes is never good, but not the end of the world. But when Carolina Marcialis added the first two of her three goals in the game, as well as strikes by Carbona, Zanetta, Costa and Apilongo, Rapallo couldn’t believe that they had the three points gift-wrapped with sixteen minutes to play.

Bologna showed some character in the second half, spurred on by a hat-trick from Canadian international Rae Lekness. But with Ursula Gitto finding her fourth score of the game for Rapallo, and then two late Roberta Biaconi man-ups finding the back of the net, the full-time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for Andrea Posterivo and her team.

Rapallo have a huge fixture coming up next, as they host the league leaders, SIS Roma.

Bogliasco 1951 13 – 8 Brizz Nuoto (5-3, 4-0, 2-2, 2-3)

Bogliasco: V. Uccella, A. Riccio 1, P. Di Maria 4, G. Cuzzupe, A. Mauceri 1, G. Millo, B. Rosta 2, R. Rogondino, M. Paganello 1, G. Lombella 2, M. Carpaneto, D. Spampinato 2, M. Oberti

Brizz: H. Santapaola, F. Sapienza 1, A. Vitaliano, N. Sasover, A. Arcidiacono, M. Spampinato 1, C. Cappello, I. Pane 2, G. Pastanella, V. Santoro 1, M. Giuffrida 2, A. Milicevic 1, F. Paladino

Bogliasco 1951 have collected their fourth win of the season, defeating Brizz Nuoto 13-8.

Paola Di Maria starred with four goals in the victory that took Bogliasco up to 6th in the Italian A1.

After five games without a victory, Bogliasco now has two in a row, following up on an excellent performance last weekend against Florentia.

Mario Sinatra’s side looked good from the off, with a brace from Paola Di Maria helping set Bogliasco off to a 5-3 first quarter. The game was firmly in the grasp of Mario Sinatra’s side, however, when Paola Di Maria added her third, followed by a brace from Bianca Rosta to end Bogliasco’s first half with a 9-3 lead.

While Brizz improved narrowly in the second half, the damage had already been done. 18-year-old Giulia Lombella fired home a double-score in the third to make the last eight minutes irrelevant.

Brizz looked like they might have turned a corner with a surprise 9-8 victory over Trieste back in December, but three straight defeats since then drags them firmly towards the lower end of the table, level on points with bottom team, RN Bologna