Vela Ancona emerged victorious from the last match of the regular season, at the Stadio del Nuoto in Anzio, beating Anzio Waterpolis 13-15, but with a bitter taste in their mouths. By virtue of Lazio’s success, in fact, the Dorians are confirmed in fifth place in the final ranking at the end of the regular season, two points away from the playoff zone, which Canottieri Napoli, Crotone, Olympic Roma and Lazio Nuoto enter instead. A sad victory for the Dorians, who were in the playoff zone for the entire first round and who after the closure of the Passetto swimming pool, the home pool where they play but also where they train and where they have not been able to train or play since mid-February last year, they were forced to make continuous pilgrimages from one pool to another, always in facilities unsuitable for men’s A2 series water polo. An ordeal that ended up progressively wearing down the team, preventing it from preparing the second part of the season as it would have liked and could have done.
The five goals from Pieroni, the four from Bartolucci, the three from Pantaloni and those from Sabatini and the Kazakh Zhardan, but also the commitment of the whole team at Anzio, speak of a lively and determined Vela, ready to win the last of the championship, despite the knowledge that the result might not be enough, as happened, to regain the playoff zone at the last minute. «It’s the wooden medal that hurts the most – comments coach Marco Risso – especially due to the fact that everyone knows that if we had had the swimming pool available we would certainly have had those points that we lack to be in the playoffs. We don’t have the team to go to A1 but we would have needed to gain experience for the future, for the boys, for the club. It was tough, I knew it, a very balanced group, this time too in Anzio we suffered from the few training sessions. It was the epilogue of what was, perhaps, the worst of the weeks spent so far with the Passetto pool closed. I will reunite the team on Friday and on Saturday we will have a dinner to talk about the future.”
«I thanked everyone – adds president Igor Pace –, the return round would certainly have killed a bull. This result, this fifth place is too tight for us, given how we started the season. But we never gave up, the results prove it, and thanks are due for everyone, starting with Marco Risso. Everyone’s determination must be underlined, a positive season nonetheless.”
