Aussie Stingers go down fighting against The Netherlands

The Aussie Stingers put up a tough fight in their opening game of the World Aquatics World Cup, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Olympic bronze medalists the Netherlands, who claimed a 9-11 win.

The Dutch opened the scoring early, converting four goals in the first quarter, to Australia’s one. Strong defence from both teams made for slow scoring in the second quarter, and the score standing at 2-5 at half time in the Netherlands favour.

A strong third quarter from the Stingers put them back in the hunt, Paris Olympic silver medalists and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holders, Dani Jackovich and Bronte Halligan joined Alice Williams in scoring six goals between them, and the scores locked at 8-8 at three quarter time.

In the final quarter, the Netherlands managed to sneak three goals through the Aussie defence to claim a two goal victory, 9-11.

Jackovich said there were a lot of firsts for the Stingers tonight, but they’ll take plenty of learnings into the remainder of their World Cup campaign.

“First game back since the Olympics, first game of the new cycle and first game of the year, also the first game for three of our debutants which was really exciting,” she said.

“The focus this week has been a lot on us, getting back together as a group and bringing in the new generation, and hoping to build on where we left off (in Paris).

“But I think the game was tough, we went down early but we fought back, and that’s a testament to how we play as the Stingers, and our never say die attitude. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way with the win, but I think we learned a lot in that game and there’s still a lot of good learning opportunities that we can use as we move forward through the tournament and continue to grow together.”

The 2025 World Aquatics World Cup is livestreamed via Recast.  Click here for more information.

AUSSIE STINGERS DRAW

Wednesday 15 January | Australia 9 def by Netherlands 11 Thursday

Thursday 16 January | 6am AEDT | Australia v Israel

Friday 17 January 6am AEDT | Australia v Italy

Story and photos courtesy of Water Polo Australia