There Siena UISP water polo closes the UISP U19 championship with a convincing 10 to 7 victory against PN Mugello, thus gaining first place in the rankings on equal merit with Sestese, but losing to their rivals due to unfavorable direct clashes.
The athletes called up by coach Marco Mancini for this match were: Pietro Cappelli (captain and goalkeeper), Filippo Marzucchi, Sergio Ricci, Milo Capra, Daniele Tomaselli, Diego Luchini, Giovanni Cheli, Pietro Marzucchi, Lorenzo Casini, Gabriele Grazzini, Thomas Piseddu (goalkeeper), Matteo Giudilli, Zeno Capra.
The match was balanced for the first three quarters, played between two strong and well-prepared teams. Siena took the lead in the first half thanks to a goal from Casini, but Mugello overturned the result in the second half. The Sienese did not give up and, in the third period, they created a great comeback, surprising Mugello with fast and precise actions, first managing to achieve a draw and then the lead thirty-seven seconds from the end of the period with a goal from Ricci from midfield. It was from this moment that the “real” Siena came out: when play resumed, the Bianconeri scored four goals, three of which were scored in just over two and a half minutes, reaching a temporary plus-five. The match ends with a 10-7 victory (partial: 1-0, 2-3, 3-2, 4-2) with goals from Lorenzo Casini, author of four goals to which are added goals from Filippo Marzucchi and Sergio Ricci who scored three each.
“I am moderately satisfied with the performance, even if the result was satisfactory because we had a well-trained and well-organised team in front of us – it was the comment by coach Mancini – I have some regrets about the final ranking which sees us first with equal points, but second due to the negative results in the head-to-head matches. Summing up the championship, I must say that the boys have grown a lot, from all points of view and we can only be very happy about this.”
The manager Francesco Marzucchi he added: “In the first part of the match we didn’t play at our best due to the pressure, but in the third and fourth half we emerged and won. It was a positive season, with first place in the standings achieved for the second time in a row, even if this year we lost the title to our rivals in head-to-head matches. Now we focus on the Italian UISP Championship where we aim to improve on the second places obtained in the last two years.”
Now the Siena water polo is focused on tackling the challenges of the next two weekends as best as possible. The first one will see the First Team and the Under 14 and Under 16 youth teams engaged in regional final stageswhile in the next the teams Under 18 and Under 14 will participate in the UISP National Championship of water polo in Certaldo.
