Stingers Defend Victory Against Italy

The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers have continued their winning run at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships with a four goal victory over Italy.

After matching up against them only days ago in the Tri Nations Test Match Series in Perth, the Stingers took some extra confidence in the game having claimed the earlier win on home soil.

Team captain and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Bronte Halligan led from the front, scoring the first goal of the game to set up an early lead for the Stingers. It was a lead they managed to hold on to from start to finish, with fellow NSWIS athlete Hayley Ballesty scoring the last goal of the game to close it out, 19-15.

With five goals of her own, Abby Andrews was named Player of the Match.

“We’ve matched up a lot with Italy this year, and we know they’ve got really great shooters as well as a strong centre forward,” Andrews said. “They got some great shots, but I think we stamped the pressure really early on in the game and we were able to consistently build off that momentum.

“They came back a little bit but I think we held them out well in the end – we had great assists, great passing and some good execution,” she said.

The team includes multiple NSWIS scholarship holders such as Hayley Ballesty, Sienna Green, Bronte Halligan, Sienna Hearn, Dani Jackovich, Tilly Kearns, Alexie Lambert, Gen Longman, and Olivia Mitchell, as well as NSWIS staff – Senior Sports Physiotherapist Bernie Petzel and Sport Performance Analyst Joshua Dipple.

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The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers will now play trans tasman rivals New Zealand in their final pool match on Tuesday 15 July at 7:35pm AEST. Watch LIVE and FREE on 9Now.

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