Pan Pacs 2016 U20 Women: North Harbour take gold, Marist silver, AUS Green claim bronze

North Harbour have claimed the 14th Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival under 20 women’s division after defeating Auckland rivals Marist 10-6 in this afternoon’s final at West Wave Aquatic Centre, Henderson. Waitakere were defeated by Australia Green in the bronze medal match; the visitors beating the locals 10-8 in their own pool.

U20 Women’s Final – North Harbour vs. Marist

It was the fast start from North Harbour that had Marist on the back foot from the beginning of the final. The North Shore side came out flying with goals from Liana Dance (2), Emily Nicholson (2), and Grace Tobin. North Harbour had a five-goal lead after just six minutes of play, before Marist found the scoreboard through Annabel Harman at 0:41.

Marist awoke in the second spell, but not before Emily Sanderson joined the scoresheet for 6-1 up. Marist pieced together two good goals from Harman for her second, and the other from Libby Gault toward the end of the half for 6-3 at halftime.

The three-goal buffer remained throughout the quarter as it ended at 8-5 – North Harbour had earned their lead and it stuck until early in the fourth. North Harbour extended their lead to five before Marist scored their only goal of the quarter through Kelsey Snelgar.

Ignoring the first quarter, the rest of the game was evenly-scored – a quarter that Marist will undoubtedly learn from.

North Harbour stepped up under their circumstances, and both teams can be hugely proud of what they have achieved at Pan Pacs 2016.
Emily Nicholson was named Most Valuable Player, and will be a key player for North Harbour in the under 18 competition kicking off on Friday.

Quarter scores: 5:1, 1:2, 2:2, 2:1

Goal scorers:

North Harbour: Emily Sanderson, Sarah Doyle, Katie McKenty, Grace Tobin 2, Liana Dance 2, Emily Nicholson 3.

Marist: Malia Josephson, Libby Gault 2, Annabel Harman 2, Kelsey Snelgar.

Watch the under 20 women’s final, which was livestreamed to Spalk and our YouTube channel here.

U20 Women’s Bronze – Australia Green vs. Waitakere

Waitakere had beaten Australia Gold to qualify for the semi-finals, but they let the Green team slip away from them towards the end of the under 20 women’s bronze medal match.

The two teams went toe-to-toe as the lead swung from Australia in the second, to Waitakere in the third, and back to Australia by the end of the game. The Australians held Waitakere scoreless in the final quarter and scored three of their own to take the bronze.

S Miliken and A Lush were key for Australia in front of goal, scoring three goals each.

Quarter scores: 1:1, 3:2, 3:5, 3:0

Goal scorers:

Australia Green: A Freeman, A Andrews 3, A Byrnes, A Hodgson, H Ballestry, S Miliken 3.

Waitakere: Bonnie Crawshaw-McLean, Emmerson Houghton 2, Katie Lush 3, Sophie Jones, Brogan Houghton.

Watch the under 20 women’s bronze final, which was livestreamed to Spalk and our YouTube channel here.

Meanwhile in the under 20 men’s, North Harbour overcame Marist Mavericks 11-10 to qualify for tonight’s under 20 men’s final, and Sea Wolf did the same by beating Hutt 17-12.

The under 20 men’s bronze medal will be played at 6:45pm at West Wave tonight, followed by the under 20 men’s final at 8:00pm.

For more results from across the pools, as well as the draw, please see here.

For photos from today and throughout the tournament please see here.