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Australia’s U20 Juniors came within a whisker of beating one of the world’s best water polo teams when they took on Stanford University in a two-game contest at Bond University.
Sunday’s tightly contested match ended with Stanford securing victory in the final 30 seconds to close the game at 15-16.
In Monday’s match-up the Stanford team doubled down, with a comfortable 6-12 win over the Aussies.
Stanford has been dubbed the world’s greatest water polo team, a breeding ground for many Olympians and gold medallists including Aria Fischer.
They were here for a training and development camp with the Australian team who are preparing for the World U20 Water Polo Championships in August.
Australian team member Molly Nasser, from the Mermaids Water Polo Club in Brisbane, said the team had been hoping for a win but the experience of playing such a renowned side was a thrill.
“Competitiveness aside, they’re all really excited to be here and it’s certainly been exciting for us to have the challenge of playing against them,” she said.
Stanford coach John Tanner said the team’s two-week tour of Australia was part competition, part cultural immersion.
“From here we are heading to Alice Springs and then to Uluru. We’re going to be camping and looking forward to seeing the stars out there,” he said.
They will also conduct water polo coaching clinics for the local community at Alice Springs.
Despite their rivalry in the pool, the teams have found plenty of opportunities to get to know each other outside their training and competition schedules during their week-long stay on the Gold Coast.
Both teams also took full advantage of Bond’s facilities including the pool, gym and recovery centre during their stay.
“Everything has been so professional and of such a high standard, so we’ve all been really impressed,” Nasser said.
