British women lose to Italy at European U19 Championships

Great Britain’s women lost their opening match of the European U19 Water Polo Championships 2016 to title contenders Italy.

A 4-0 opening quarter deficit left the British women with a mountain to climb and they ultimately slipped to a 14-5 (4-0, 2-2, 4-1, 4-2) defeat in the Hague.

The Brits were expecting a tricky encounter against the Italians, whose senior team won Olympic silver and European bronze this season.

But there were positives for the Brits to take away from the opening match. Crawley’s Lily Turner bagged a couple of goals while Izzy Howe, Kathy Rogers and Annie Clapperton also scored. At the other end, Cheltenham goalkeeper Kate Read saved a penalty.

There was also some dogged defence against an Italy team playing at a higher tempo than the Brits can expect from their other two group stage opponents, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Head coach Nousios encouraged by start

British head coach Theo Nousios said: “For the first game our GB girls did very well and will now go on to get better and better. We plan to improve throughout the tournament”

Captain Rosie Huck added: “This was a great first game for us against a really tough Italian team. We did very well to score five goals against what is a very experienced side with much more match experience than we have.”

The British women face Bulgaria today (12 September) before Slovakia await on 14 September.

British team for the European Women’s U19 Water Polo Championships 2016

• Sophie Jackson (GK) (Halifax SC)
• Kate Read (GK) (Cheltenham S&WPC)
• Robyn Greenslade (Paignton SC)
• Kathy Rogers (Otter SC)
• Lily Turner (Crawley SC)
• Isabelle Dean (Otter SC)
• Katy Cutler (Salisbury Stingrays ASC)
• Beth Bolton (City of Chester SC)
• Rosie Huck (City of Manchester WPC)
• Annie Clapperton (Stretford SC)
• Isobel Howe (City of Manchester WPC)
• Hannah Patchett (Otter SC)
• Hannah Edwards (Menzieshill Whitehall S&WPC, Scotland)

Image credit: England Water Polo Flickr