WATER POLO: A thrilling last quarter comeback has seen the United States of America defeat Australia’s women’s water polo team, the Aussie Stingers, 12-10 in the gold medal final of the Canada Cup in Quebec.

The scores were locked at 8-8 at fulltime with the USA proving too strong in the penalty shootout to claim their first win against Australia at the tournament.

The Stingers looked to be in command at 8-5 heading into the final term, only for the Olympic champions to rattle off three consecutive goals to send the game into penalties.

Australia was immediately on the back foot with Rowie Webster missing the opening penalty, and despite conversions from skipper Bronwen Knox and Hannah Buckling, the Americans coasted to victory with two goals in hand.

Knox said it was disappointing to lose the game and believed her team’s last quarter lapse was an area to focus on ahead of their next tournament in Los Angeles.

“We had a reasonable start but we lost a bit of steam towards the end and our defence in the last quarter was poor,” Knox said.

“We let them score a couple of easy goals which let them back in the game instead of stepping upping and taking control.

“We now look forward to putting that into practice and coming away with a couple of wins at the Holiday Cup in California next week.”

The Stingers took command early, leading 2-1 at quarter time thanks to goals to Knox and young centre forward Jayde Appel.

A second quarter double to Zoe Arancini maintained Australia’s advantage, and when Webster and Ashleigh Southern twice combined for back-to-back goals in the third Australia’s lead was 8-5.

The US replied in quick succession at 6:44 and 6:02 in the final term to reduce the margin to one, with the Americans levelling the game at 8-8 with four minutes remaining.

Both sides called time outs in an attempt to break the deadlock, but when neither team capitalised the match was destined for a shootout.

Arancini was named attacking player of the tournament, whilst Lea Barta was named best goalkeeper.

The Stingers now head to California for the Holiday Cup in Los Angeles where they will take on Canada, the USA, Netherlands, Greece and Russia. That tournament starts on Thursday AEDST.

Water Polo Australia Inc.