By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
SYDNEY - Sometimes you're the iceberg.
Sometimes you're the Titanic.
The Canadian women's waterpolo team's high hopes of a
medal went to the bottom of the pool Wednesday after
they were torpedoed by the strong Australians 9-4 in a
match in which they were dominated at every turn.
The Canadian team could only tread water afterwards,
waiting to see how their fate would be decided by the
outcome of the last game of the round robin later
Wednesday night. Russia beat the Netherlands to grab
the last spot in the medal round.
The only way the Canadians, 1-2-2, could get through
to the medal round was if the Russians lost against
the Dutch. The Russians won 6-3, to improve to 2-2-1.
"I'm sad about it," said Canadian coach Dan
Berthelette, when asked about his team being put in a
position where it had to depend on another team to
advance.
"These girls put 27 months into this and worked hard.
But they were capable of playing better."
Though he wasn't using it as an excuse, Berthelette
wasn't happy with the scheduling of the games for the
tournament.
Canada played Tuesday night against the Dutch and had
to go against the Australians 17 hours later.
The Australians played all their games in the round
robin at 1 p.m.
"(The Australians) fixed the schedule totally in their
favour," he said. "They get at least 28 or 29 hours
rest (actually about 23) before every game and that
can make a big difference. That's the way I see it as
a coach. Is it fair? I don't think so.
"They should have to play at least one time at six or
seven (in the evening). I know for their crowds, it's
better. But in the 100m in swimming you can't put the
Australians in the best lane all the time. Sometimes
they have to swim on the outside. Playing every game
at 1 p.m.? I don't think that's fair."
One Games information officer said the schedule was
setup that way for Australian television so the Aussie
waterpolo games wouldn't conflict with the swimming
sessions at night.
The Canadians inflicted most of their damage on
themselves. They'll be haunted by the three goals they
gave up in the last minute and 50 seconds of their
game against the U.S., the last with just .4 of a
second left in regulation time, settling for an 8-8
tie.
"If we didn't lose that point to the U.S.," said
captain Cora Campbell, "we'd be there."
Canadian goaltender Josee Marsolais of Laval, Que.,
one of the best in the world, didn't have her best
game Wednesday against Australia and was yanked for a
while in favour of Montreal's Isabelle Auger after the
Aussies made it 6-3 early in the third quarter.
Berthelette put Marsolais back in after the Aussies
made it 9-3.
Canada refused to shoot from the outside and the
Aussies just wound up crashing the hole and making
life miserable for Canada's centre forwards.
"I don't think the score reflected the way we played,"
said Campbell, who's from Calgary. "But we didn't put
in our man-ups and our goalies didn't have the
greatest day."
The Australians, who were already guaranteed a spot in
the semifinals going into the game, employed a
suffocating defence and scored some spectacular goals
- including three by Simone Hankin - to put Canada on
the verge of elimination.
At the other end of the pool, the Canadians could
manage only singles by North Vancouver, B.C.'s Sue
Gardiner, Jana Salat of Calgary, Valerie Dionne of
Montreal and Johanne Begin of Montreal.
"Our defence has been fabulous the whole tournament,"
said Hankin. "It hasn't let us down at all and we
wanted to spring off that. We used our people in a
little different way, in short bursts, and pushed
people.
"This sets us up nice."
Summary
Australia | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2--9 |
Canada | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1--4 |
First Quarter--1. Australia, S. Hankin, 0:34.
Second Quarter--2. Australia, J. Fox, 1:04. 3. Canada, S. Gardiner, 1:30. 4. Australia, S. Hankin, 1:59. 5. Canada, J. Begin, 2:48 (PP). 6. Australia, G. Miller, 5:51. 7. Australia, Y. Higgins, 6:36 (PP).
Third Quarter--8. Canada, J. Salat, 3:54 (PP). 9. Australia, S. Hankin, 5:07. 10. Australia, D. Watson, 6:58 (PP).
Fourth Quarter--11. Australia, B. Gusterson, 1:30. 12. Australia, D. Watson, 2:31 (PP). 13. Canada, V. Dionne, 4:07 (PP).
Referees-- Rolf Helmut Ludecke, Germany; Patrick Clemencon, France
