1st FINA WOMEN WATER POLO WORLD LEAGUE JUNE 23-27, 2004 DAY FOUR WRAP & TEAM STANDINGS

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 27. THE quest for the gold medal at the 2004 FINA Women's Water Polo World League Super Final took some surprising turns in Saturday's semi-finals according to the FINA Press Commision accounts.

At the start of the day there were two undefeated teams, RUSSIA and ITALY, each ranked first in their respective groups. By the end of the evening, there were no undefeated teams; the second-ranked teams went into their games as underdogs and each enjoyed a one-goal victory by nightfall.

RUSSIA, the number three team in the world rankings and the owner of the 2000 Olympic bronze medal, faced fifth- ranked HUNGARY. The team from HUNGARY had a fine pedigree having previously won the 2001 FINA World Championships and the 2002 FINA World Cup. The game was tied at one, four, five and six before HUNGARY went 8-6 ahead less than three minutes from time. Sofia Konoukh scored her third goal of the game and 10th of the tournament in the last minute but it wasn’t enough.

ITALY, enjoyed the number two ranking in the world and is also the European Championship. It is a wily competitor and most dangerous when down. USA moved from 5-4 at halftime to 8-5 heading into the final nine minutes. That became 9-6 but Italy struck back to one goal and even had a ball mostly over the line in the dying seconds from a Giusy Malato shot but it wasn’t to be Italy’s night.

In the battle of the lower four teams, GREECE came back from two goals down against Olympic champion AUSTRALIA in the last quarter to register a thrilling, 8-7 victory, thanks to two quick goals by Antigoni Roumpesi to start the four-goal run. Elise Norwood was again Australia’s best with a third, three-goal haul.

CANADA made sure of its fifth-sixth, play-off spot against Greece with a controlled 10-5 victory over KAZAKHSTAN in the biggest margin of the night. Ten of those goals came in the first half but in the second spell, CANADA dominated with four more.
Saturday's attendance at the Charter Digital Aquatic Center was 2256.

TEAM STANDINGS IN GROUP PLAY:

Group A STANDINGS through three games:
9 points – RUSSIA: 3-0 (def. GRE, 11-8, def. USA, 10-5, def. KAZ, 10-6)
7 points – USA: 2-1 (def. KAZ, 10-4; lost to RUSSIA, 5-10, def GRE, 9-7)
5 points – GREECE: 1-2 (lost to RUS, 8-11, def. KAZ, 11-2, lost to USA, 7-9)
3 points – KAZAKHSTAN: 0-3 (lost to USA, 4-10, lost to GRE, 2-11, lost to RUS, 6-10)

Group B STANDINGS though three games:
9 points – ITALY: 3-0 (def. HUN, 6-4, def. AUS, 11-8, def. CAN, 13-8)
7 points – HUNGARY: 2-1 (lost to ITA 4-6, beat CAN, 12-7, beat AUS, 5-4)
4 points – CANADA: 1-2 (def. AUS, 12-11, lost to HUN, 7-12, lost to ITA, 8-13)
3 points – AUSTRALIA: 0-3 (lost to CAN, 11-12, lost to ITA, 8-11, lost to HUN, 4-5)

Points are awarded as follows:
3 points for a regulation time victory, 2 points for an penalty shootout, 1 point for a loss.

RESULTS OF SEMI FINAL GAMES on June 26, 2004:

Game Thirteen:
GREECE (2-2) defeated AUSTRALIA (0-4), 8-7

Game Fourteen:
CANADA (2-2) defeated KAZAKHSTAN (0-4), 10-5

Game Fifteen:
HUNGARY (3-1) defeated RUSSIA (3-1), 8-7

Game Sixteen:
USA (3-1) defeated ITALY (3-1), 10-9

SCHEDULE OF FINAL GAMES ON DAY FIVE: Sunday, June 27, 2004

4:00 p.m. – Game Seventeen winner will be 7th place
AUSTRALIA vrs. KAZAKHSTAN

5:30 p.m. – Game Eighteen winner will be 5th place
GREECE vrs. CANADA

7:00 p.m. – Game Nineteen winner will be third place (bronze medal)
RUSSIA vrs. ITALY

8:30 p.m. – Game Twenty winner will be first place (gold medal)
HUNGAY vrs. USA

ATTENDANCE FOR JUNE 26th: 2256

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