Five goal flurry to pull Kiwis to penalties against Brazil

The New Zealand women have proven that it is never too late in their semifinal for 5th-8th against Brazil in the FINA Water Polo World League Women's Intercontinental Tournament. Russell McKinnon - FINA Quarters: 1-2, 2-4, 1-1, 5-2 Pens: 1-3 Extra Man: NZL: 3/6. BRA: 0/7.

NZL during the line-up

NEW ZEALAND: Brooke Millar, Nicole Lewis, Kelly Mason, Hannah Klein, Simone Lewis, Sarah Landry, Miranda Chase, Ricci Ferigo, Emma Stoneman (1), Liana Dance (3), Kirsten Hudson (3), Jasmine Myles (3), Katherine Curnow. Head Coach: Attila Biro. Match Report: Brazil moved into the crucial play-off for fifth, which will determine who will take the final berth for the Shanghai FINA World League Super Final next month. But Brazil had to survive its third penalty shootout of the week, losing the previous two after seeing a five-goal lead disappear and send the match to penalties after a 9-9 scoreline.

New Zealand's Nicole Lewis takes a penalty

Brazil played steady water polo, putting a zone on New Zealand that the Kiwis seemed incapable of breaking in the first three quarters. When the Kiwis did move closer to goal and gain some movement, it collected extra-man situations that it exploited twice. Then came the amazing final quarter when New Zealand went 9-4 down after two Brazilian strikes and then created a miracle finish with five straight goals, the final shot coming from Jasmine Myles with two seconds left on the clock, sending the match to penalties.

New Zealand's Kirsten Hudson earns an exclusion for distance

While Brazil was sharing around the goals from the top earlier on, New Zealand scored twice through youngster Liana Dance from centre forward. Dance, who has just turned 17, lifted the crowd when she scored on counter while heavily defended at 9-6 with 2:30 remaining. Her counter goal was the middle of three consecutive strikes by New Zealand with veteran Kirsten Hudson and Emma Stoneman scoring from outside — all within two minutes — for 9-7 with 1:40 remaining. New Zealand went to a timeout and the resulting play brought a goal to Hudson at 0:49 and then Myles’ sublime shot from the top. Brazilian head coach Pat Oaten (CAN) earlier said that the pressure was on Brazil to perform and to at least qualify for Shanghai as it will be hosting next year’s Rio Olympic Games.

Flash quotes: Pat Oaten (CAN) — Brazil Head Coach “The team has to learn these situations of changing defence. No team is going to stop working and New Zealand was good on defence. I honestly think these girls want to age me! It was good to win a shootout at last (after two losses in Auckland) and we converted all our shots. We have a lot of work to do.” Attila Biro (NZL) — Head Coach “Disappointed because we took back this game. But we need to learn in these situations to play better, especially in the second and third quarters and learn how to finish the game.” Nicole Lewis (NZL) “Absolutely gutted. I think we fought for gold in the first and fourth (periods). We wanted it so badly but the second and third (periods) really let us down. We played with a lot of heart to come back the way we did and for that I am proud.” New Zealand will face Japan at 3:00pm tomorrow (Sunday) in a rematch of their day three encounter which saw the Kiwis win 8-4. The crowd was the largest for this match and New Zealand got the result so get behind our national team at West Wave tomorrow in their final home match for the near future.