It is that time of the year where the top 6 Water Polo National League teams play off for spots in the top 4 and to then seal the deal with a medal.The Adelaide team, who I once played for back in the day, has made it to the finals in Sydney for the second year in a row. This team has come so far since it first started back in 2005, falling to the bottom of the ladder for a few seasons, but nowadays its a completely different story and I am so proud of the group of girls that has led the team to two finals campaigns.
Their finals campaign started on Thursday, yesterday, in a nail biting thriller of a game against the Victorian Tigers (4 vs 5). The girls came back from 6-4 at 3/4 time to then nail a couple of goals to make it 6-6 at full time, thanks to Iso and Nicole. Therefore, it went into extra time with Victoria in the lead but the Jets fought back hard with Jess and Chelsea taking the game into a penalty shootout. I am sure at this point in time everyone was on the edge of their seats, I know I would have been. Shot after shot it was even steven after the first 5 rounds until... the goal keeper, Torz, from the Jets made a stunning save to put the game in the bag and to seal a win for her team. I have nothing but praise for this wonderful woman, I have always had a feeling about this one and I will never stop backing her up about being THE best goal keeper.
Now, with this win this took the girls to play the Fremantle Marlins today (2 v 3). This was another tough game with the Jets leading until half time when the score was all tied up with 3-3. The third quarter saw the Marlins get in front 6-5 but the Jets were still in it. The girls fought hard in the last quarter to get the first goal to even the score but the Marlins came back with 2 goals getting them the win with the final score 8-6. After the game the Marlins' coach said that the Jets had defended really well, had been very physical & would be disappointing if they didn't make the top 4. (coach's comment was taken from the AWPI write up, http://www.waterpoloaustralia.com.au/news-media/news/news-article/article/2013/may/2013-nwpl-finals-women-day-1-breakers-gain-first-seed/).
Although the team went down in the end, all hope was not yet lost, the girls were relying on the 1 v 6 game, KFC Breakers v Cronulla, with the hopes of the Breakers taking the game so that the Jets were automatically placed in the top 4. After a tight game, in the last 26 seconds of the remaining quarter one of the leading players from Cronulla scored a goal from outside 8m to take their team to win by 1 point making it 12-11.
This now means that the Jets girls are playing 5 v 6 tomorrow against Victoria. Even though the girls are extremely devastated about this result they should be exceedingly proud of their efforts to date. This team is definitely top 4 material and I would say most of their supporters and opponents would agree but it just didn't go their way today. They have definitely made a name for themselves over the last two years and have come such a long way to get this far. They should keep their heads up high as they have one more game to go and they shouldn't let their loss to make the top 4 cloud their thoughts. I know they will but now they need to have a positive mindset and go into that game with a view to showing every single person there who they are and why they made the finals to begin with. Go out with a bang girls!
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