Spain won a fantastic final against Greece at the Women’s U18 European Water Polo Championships in Malta to claim another gold – a fifth across the last six women’s age-group majors in the last two years. Greece were close, but a penalty miss at a crucial moment derailed their title-hopes. Elsewhere, Hungary claimed the bronze, with a 5-0 blast in the last period helping them get the better of Italy.

Gold medal game: Spain edge spectacular final against Greece

In the second round of the group stage, Spain claimed a commanding win against the Greeks. They were already dominating in the second period, but in the third they rushed to a 9-4 lead and never looked back, and that encounter finished 13-9.

However, a final is a different story, and the Greeks obviously learned a lot from that match – and also from what they saw from the Spanish in the other games, especially in the semi-final thriller against Hungary.

Greece managed to re-organise their defence, which did a brilliant job in the first half of the final, almost completely silencing one of the Spaniards’ lethal weapons – their perimeter shots.

Blocks and saves began to erode the shooters’ confidence, while the Greeks jumped to a 0-2 lead in two minutes, with Androniki Karagianni finishing off a counter, then Afroditi Bitsakou put away an extra.

Spain needed more than four minutes to open their account, and it was Ona Tarrino from the centre who made the breakthrough, but Karagianni’s reply arrived immediately from the perimeter.

Finally, Lucia Rodriguez found a hole in the Greek wall 14 seconds before the first break, but Karagianni also hit one from 6m in the very last second for 2-4.

After making the most of their chances, the Greeks blew a five on four at the start of the second, then came three minutes of huge battling with outstanding defending.

Spain captain Queralt Anton broke the ice after four minutes, converting a six on five, but soon Bitsakou earned enough advantage to reset the two-goal gap from a counter.

Two more minutes ticked down on the clock before Laia Tutusais managed to score from action for 4-5, while the Greeks missed back-to-back six on fives in the same possession, which was a sign of the slowly shifting momentum.

Spain’s defence was tightening, while the Greek offence was deteriorating, as they could only score one goal in the second period.

Karagianni seemed to push her side back on track, as she netted a six on five early in the third, and they also soon had a couple of possessions to expand the gap, but no more goals came from their attacks.

At the other end, the Spaniards buried two six on fives in 36 seconds, and that turned everything around.

The Greeks were running out of ideas, while the Spaniards were putting their opponents under enormous pressure, and with 1:36 to go, Liv del Sol’s fierce shot from the left wing gave them the lead for the first time at 7-6.

Just 37 seconds later, Estibaliz Dominguez blasted one from action to double Spain’s lead – and this 4-0 rush put the Greeks into an extremely challenging situation.

However, great teams are known to find the right response, and the Greeks did just that.

Bitsakou hit one from the centre 14 seconds into the fourth – their first goal after seven long minutes – while the blocks returned in front of the Greek goal. And in three minutes, Despoina Drakotou put away a six on five to make it even at 8-8.

The Greeks were on fire, and soon they earned a penalty, but their best scorer, Anna Krassa hit the post… It was a crucial miss, as Mari Duenas immediately hit one for Spain while finding some space in the centre – in the middle of the fourth.

Krassa then replied brilliantly for Greece, firing in from 7m. It was a blistering shot and more than worthy of an equaliser in such a thrilling final. It was 9-9 and there was still 3:02 showing on the clock…

Just a minute later, Spain leftie Luna Vara sent the ball under the bar from the wing, which was another fantastic action shot – and it proved to be a game winner.

The Greeks weren’t able to take a shot in their next two possessions, and there was only 19 seconds left when they got the ball back.

After going for broke with a seven on six, the Spanish defence did well to force an under-pressure shot, which was an easy catch for their goalie.

So it was just a usual scene – Spanish celebrations in the pool at the end of a women’s age-group major.

Over the last two seasons, it has happened five out of six times: last year they won all three events (U19 Europeans, U18 Worlds, U16 Worlds), this year they kicked off the summer by clinching the U16 Europeans title, lost a nailbiter to the USA at the U20 Worlds, followed by this victory – which is quite an impressive run, indeed.

Bronze medal game: After several twists, Hungary’s late 5-0 rush secures the bronze

These two sides had already met in the group – just like the finalists. On Day 2, the Hungarians came back from four goals down, but the Italians won the shootout.

Now, after going through some joys and pains, they were ready to clash for the bronze medal. The Hungarians had the better start, converting two six on fives, while the Italians missed both, but after four minutes they netted two from action to level it up. One goal apiece kept the result on even at the end of the quarter.

Again, the Magyars’ start was way better, this time they netted two action goals – the second came from the Horvath twins, the feed from Luca and the hit from Zsofi in the centre.

Just when they seemed to gain control, the Italians managed to stage a 0-3 rush in 85 seconds by netting two penalties and an action goal in between. However, a buzzer-beater lob from Jolanta Szentpali brought the Magyars back to life, and it was their turn to add two more in quick succession – this 90-second run gave them an 8-6 lead by half-time.

Another great centre-shot from Zsofi Horvath expanded the gap to three goals and after killing a woman-down, her side even had a six on five after a time-out to go 10-6 up. But they missed it, and now the Italians caught a wave.

After wasting five extras till that point, Lara Bianco buried two in 37 seconds, followed by Nausicaa Magaglio’s back-to-back hits from the centre.

Though Szentpali came up with another blast between the two, the Italians clearly had the psychological advantage, and denied the tiring Hungarians in two more woman-downs, while Margherita Minuto sent the ball home in the last seconds of their six on five, so Italy led 10-11 before the final quarter.

And Letizia Scibona offered another boost for her team-mates as she managed to stop a second penalty in the match – all Italy needed to do was score from their next extra. However, the Hungarian defence did well, Kincso Kenez made a steal and soon she sent a blistering shot to the net from the perimeter.

The young Hungarian warriors were burning their very last reserves, that was visible, but the Italians looked more tired – though the Magyars missed an extra, from their next possession they could set up Adrienn Hetzl on the 2m line, who buried it for 12-11.

And after a missed Italian lob, the Hungarians earned a penalty from their counter and this time Kenez left no chance for the goalie. With 3:41 to go, Italy badly needed a goal, but it never came. They were unable to overplay the Hungary defence, Tunde Schmuck, who barely touched the ball in the third period, delivered one save after the other.

Italy, still trailing by two, called a time-out 1:53 from time, and they went all-in, a seven on six, but a block denied them and the Hungarians kept their calm to set up Kenez, unmarked, at the halfway line, and she sent the ball to the empty net to close down the contest.

The Italians’ last desperate tries also bounced back from the Hungarian wall, even a seven on five – they were shut out in the entire last period – so Sara Keszthelyi added another easy goal in the last second, to complete the Hungarians’ brilliant 5-0 run in the last period and secure the bronze medal.

5th/6th Final: Netherlands’ strength prevails

After a schedule with no break for most of the teams, which saw games on most days against top division sides, both the Netherlands and Croatia looked a little jaded as they clashed for the fifth place.

The two teams produced a slow-paced match, which was largely a positional game, as both sides kept searching for their centres, or they went for shots from the distance.

This was reflected by the scoreboard, as it stood 4-4 at half-time. Both defences were easily withstanding the pressure, which was anything but enormous.

The Croats had the better start, building a 3-2 lead in eight minutes, then Neli Jankovic put away an extra for 4-2 early in the second.

Kimber van der Linde pulled one back, which was followed by a lengthy tussle with wasted six on fives at each end. Then with 2:34 remaining before half-time, a fine move in the centre earned a penalty for the Dutch and Jette Bottermans levelled things up.

The last few possessions of the half didn’t see any more goals, not even exclusions, which just underlined the impacts of the fatigue.

In the third, the Croats missed an early extra, then Kiara Heerink netted a five on four to put the Netherlands ahead for the first time since 0-1.

The Croats struggled in attack and Marjoelin de Gier managed to take a pinpoint shot to double their lead. The next four minutes were anything but big time, then Heerink made the most of an extra, so the Netherlands were on a 0-5 run.

Neli Jankovic finally broke her side’s lengthy silence, from a woman-up, after 12:18 minutes, but Myrthe Broekmate immediately netted a nice action goal from the centre, so the Dutch led 8-5, as they scored as many goals as they did in the whole first half.

Heerink kept on delivering for the Netherlands, as she hit another one from the distance 48 seconds into the last quarter, which was her fourth of the afternoon.

Croatia’s super duo – Jelena Butic and Neli Jankovic at the end of a long season, which included playing at the senior Wolds and the U20 Worlds – were also at the end of their reserves.

Still, a steal by Butic and fine finish from Jankovic gave some hope for the Croats at the four-minute mark, and 60 seconds later, Jankovic put away a six on five too, to halve the gap.

Butic had a fine block in a woman-down and the Croats had two minutes to force a shootout. Butic netted her third (Jankovic hit five) from a dying extra for 8-9. Still, the Dutch could force an extra and it was Heerink who stepped up and sent the ball home 37 seconds from time (her fifth of the game).

Soon, Butic let the ball fly from 7m, and it was a brilliant goal, but only 26 seconds were left on the clock, and the Croats were too tired to get close to a steal – instead, Esme Ouweens hit one from the wing 1.6 seconds from time to seal the Netherlands’ win.

7th/8th Final: Serbia sink Israel

In the match for the seventh place, Serbia needed only two periods to build a six-goal lead, as they managed to score a series of easy goals. Most of them came from the perimeter, or after some fine body-vs-body action.

At the same time, the Israelis had to work harder for their goals, provided they could create chances at all, as the Serbian defence was working far more effectively.

In fact, Serbia maybe thought they had done enough to win the game at this point, as they got too passive at both ends of the pool, while Israel managed to score two goals in three minutes and incoming goalie Reul Zinger posted a series of fine saves (Israel lacked that in the first half).

Though Serbia’s Danica Balac put away an extra for 11-6 midway through the third, the Israelis kept pushing despite missing a couple of six on fives, and they added two more from back-to-back penalties.

The gap was now just three goals, and the Serbs had lost three players to three fouls each, so the game wasn’t over as the fourth period started at 11-8.

Israel had a couple of possessions to come closer, but didn’t really test the Serbian defence and Nada Milenkovic’ sharp shot from the perimeter helped calm her team.

Israel then had two fine chances, but missed them both, and they fluffed a six on five, while Natalia Corda finished off a fine counter to make it 13-8 with only three minutes remaining.

The Israelis, seemingly exhausted, could only score a late one, but it was the Serbs who could celebrate at the end, and they did in style by scoring the last one, from a counter, 12 seconds from time.

Women’s U18 Europeans, Malta
Results, Day 8
Sunday 7 September

Gold medal game

Spain v Greece 10-9

Bronze medal game

Hungary v Italy 15-11

5th/6th Final

Croatia v Netherlands 9-11

7th/8th Final

Serbia v Israel 14-9

Tournament MVP

Queralt Anton I Boixadera (Spain)

Tournament Best Goalkeeper

Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou (Greece)

Final standings

1 Spain
2 Greece
3 Hungary
4 Italy
5 Netherlands
6 Croatia
7 Serbia
8 Israel
9 Türkiye
10 Germany
11 Great Britain
12 Slovakia
13 Czechia
14 Malta
15 Ukraine
16 Romania
17 Ireland
18 Switzerland
19 Bulgaria

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics