World University Games Water Polo – Women
- July 2-14, 2019
- Naples, Italy
- Time: UTC +2; 6 hours earlier than ET
- 10 Teams Per Gender
- Preview | Pool Play Recap | Round of 16 Recap
- Results
Hungary claimed the World University Games women’s water polo title with an 8-7 victory over Italy, while Russia claimed the bronze medal with a 22-7 win over Canada to round out the podium.
Saturday Results
Bronze Medal – Russia def. Canada 22-7
Gold Medal – Hungary def. Italy 8-7
Saturday Recaps
Russia def. Canada 22-7
Russia cruised to a 7-1 lead in the first quarter and poured on 15 more goals over the final 24 minutes to sew up the World University Games bronze medal.
Polina Kempf put in eight goals to lead the Russians, Alina Inogamova (4) and Regina Galimzianova (3)
Valeria Rojas turned in a hat trick to lead five Canadian scorers.
Russia got a 5-meter goal from Popova, a counter attack by Kempf and two action shots by Pystina to go up 4-0. Rojas broke through for Canada, only to see Russia push ahead by eight at 10-2, capped by an extra-player goal by Zaplatina.
Russia closed out the game with a 12-5 run over the final two periods. A center shot goal by Kempf made it 17-6 with nine minutes to play and the team added five more goals in the final stanza to claim the bronze.
Hungary def. Italy 8-7
Hungary cracked open the game with four goals over the second and third period to turn a 3-3 deficit into a 7-5 lead en route to the gold medal.
Krisztina Garda scored third goals to lead Hungary, while Orsolya Hertzka and Alexa Gemes put in two scores.
Giulia Millo, Sara Centanni, and Agnese Cocchiere notched two goals apiece for Italy.
Italy scored the first two goals of the game on a center shot by Cocchiere and an extra-player opportunity by Centanni. Hertzka notched an action shot and Garda scored a 5-meter shot to tie it up at 2-all in the first quarter. Both teams netted an action shot to bring it to 3-3.
Garda put in a penalty shot 2:49 in the second quarter, while Centanni countered with an extra-player goal. The teams traded goals again, before a 5-meter goal and an action shot by Gemes gave Hungary a little breathing room at 7-5 after the third period.
Hertzka made it a three-point game at 8-5 with an extra-player goal just 45 seconds into the final quarter. From there, Cochiere sunk an extra-player shot two minutes later and Millo added an action shot with 1:12 to play to cut the margin to one at 8-7 to round out the scoring.
Final Standings
Medal Rank/Team
Gold – Hungary
Silver – Italy
Bronze – Russian Federation
4 – Canada
5 – Australia
6 – Japan
7 – China
8 – United States
9 – France
10 – Czech Republic
