26 Jul 2025

Tight defence powers hosts to women’s water polo gold; Italy seal men’s hat-trick

DUISBURG: Germany delighted a raucous home crowd by winning the women’s water polo gold medal with a 9-6 victory over USA while Italy sealed an historic hat-trick of men's titles on a day of high drama in Duisburg on Saturday.

Squeezed into the stands almost as tight as Germany were in defence, fans cheered every goal with gusto in the women’s final as the home team ground out a 3-0 lead before matching their opponents point-for-point in the second half.

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“Our coach really put it in our heads that we can win the game by defence,” Franka Lipinski (GER) told the FISU Games News Service.

“We were focused on our defence and just made sure we built the game from there, and not let any counters happen. That’s how we managed to keep them to zero for so long.

“We didn’t expect to come here and get any medal and now we’ve won it. Even if you watched how we played and how we stayed on top of the match the whole game, it’s amazing and still a bit unbelievable.

“It will hit us all when we have the medal ceremony, and we have it in our hands.”

USA had hit double figures in each of their past four outings in the outdoor pool at ASC Duisburg but they could not find a way through Germany when it mattered most, only registering their first goal towards the end of the third quarter.

“We just couldn’t find a way to the back of the net and sometimes in water polo that happens,” USA captain Lauren Steele told the FISU Games News Service.

“It sucks to lose that game and not feel like we played our best, but there’s so much to be proud of. We’re not going to hang our heads or anything, I’m just excited for the future for us.”

“This is my first time being captain – of anything. This is the UCLA water polo and I’m a leader on that team, so I think I was chosen for that reason. I’m only 19, so it was cool to be a captain at a young age.”

Italian triumph

Germany’s coach Karsten Seehafer told the FGNS that a difference in approach could have played a part in the win.

“We’re a very cheerful team and there are two singers who lead the way,” he said. “That also set us apart a bit from the Americans today,” he said.

“We saw them this morning and they were grumpy that they had to train. Our girls were cheerful. So it was a great day.”

The third quarter also proved decisive in the men’s gold medal match later on Saturday when Italy outscored USA 6-2, building the platform for an eventual 16-12 victory. USA rallied in the final quarter but Italy held firm to win their third title in a row, an unprecedented feat in FISU Games history.

“It was a really tough match but I’m so proud of me and my teammates,” Pietro Faraglio told FGNS after joining an elite club of student-athletes to have won a gold medal at consecutive FISU World University Games.

“We were consistent. We didn’t lose our concentration from the start until the end. When we went down or the referee gave us some exclusion, we didn’t give up. We continued to fight and we won because of this.”

FGNS ph/mb