Water polo sides win finals

Woy Woy Junior, First Grade Men's and Women's waterpolo teams have all taken out their grand finals for this summer's waterpolo competition, held on Saturday, March 13, despite not having a pool for two seasons.

The junior, under 18's side defeated Wyong six goals to five.

"This was the game of the day and was a hard-fought tussle that went into extra time and had all of the crowd on the edge of their seats," said publicity officer Ms Mardi Love.

"Eventually, in the second period of extra time, Woy Woy defeated Wyong.

"Gerard Koen was strong for Woy Woy, scoring two vital goals."

Woy Woy women's team had to defeat Gosford in the final to make the grand final against Wyong.

Against Gosford, a strong second half performance saw Woy Woy forge ahead of Gosford after the scores were locked at half-time, 9 to 4.

Vanessa Henderson was outstanding for Woy Woy, scoring five of their goals.

In the grand final, the women's team defeated Wyong seven goals to six.

Wyong were without their strongest player in Libby Magann, who suffered a broken finger in the prior week's Country Championships.

Wyong started the game full of determination and after a nil-all first quarter, they went away to a 5 to 1 lead at half time.

In the second half, Woy Woy clawed their way back into the match with four goals from Karen Van Huistedde proving invaluable in securing Woy Woy's win.

Tracey Elliot from Woy Woy capped off a strong season by being awarded the Best and Fairest player in the women's division.

In the men's First Grade, Woy Woy's team defeated Wyong 12 goals to 3 to take out the grand final.

"Woy Woy has dominated this grade all year and the Grand Final was no exception," Ms Love said.

"Chad Rapsey opened the game with two quick goals for Woy Woy in the first few minutes, which set the platform for a very convincing win, setting the banchmark for all other teams for next season."

The Men's second grade team missed out on the grand final going down to The Entrance in the final.

This game went down to the wire with the scores locked at five-all with one minute left to play.

Brad Van Spronssen from The Entrance scored the winning goal with only seconds left on the clock to advance the score to 6 to 5 and give The Entrance a spot in the grand final against Wyong.

"Overall, the season was a pretty good one for the Central Coast, with a strong contingent of players achieving representative status, club success in several tournaments and the consolidation of the under-16's competition, which should only get bigger and better over the next few years," Mardi Love said.

"Gosford Council approval of the Peninsula Leisure Centre will ensure that water polo on the Central Coast will have an international standard venue, which will only enhance the sport here on the Coast and attract tournaments and players.

"All of our open representative players will still be training for the Australian Country Championships at Noosa in May, while the rest of us take a few months rest before the winter competition begins in August."

The Central Coast teams were also successful at the Country District Championships from March 4 to 6 in Albury.

Corey Eames from Woy Woy team was among three Central Coast water polo players chosen for the NSW Country Under 20 squad.

Vanessa Henderson and Tracey Elliot from Woy Woy were among five Central Coast players chosen in the NSW Country side to play in Noosa at the Australian Country Championships in May.

Email, March 15