Students M – National Semifinals Students “B”: Canottieri Milano wins group 2 and goes to the final
The boys of the Circolo Canottieri Milano with great tenacity, technique and spirit of sacrifice win group 2 of the national semi-finals and reach the Final eight in Naples scheduled for 8 to 11 August.
Historical milestone for the Naviglio association which in its entire history had not reached a national final at youth level. He does so by overcoming a very balanced group, with 5 out of 6 matches decided within 60" and a thrilling finish. A victory and two draws worth 5 points. Coach Marco Zucchi's team beat SG Andrea Doria 9-8 on the first day, and then a double draw with the same score 9-9 first against Rari Nantes Trento and then against Polo Watero Bergamo.
The whole team demonstrated that they have great character and a strong personality, in all three matches they were able to recover the score, maintaining a cool head especially in the last minutes of the game.
Canottieri started off on Saturday in the first day against Andrea Doria's team, emotions didn't make the home team play at their best but they still managed to win 9-8 30" from the siren thanks to an intuition from Alessandro Garofalo who doesn't make mistakes face to face with the goalkeeper. The other match on Saturday sees Bergamo get the better of Trento.
The second day begins with Andrea Doria's 7-6 victory over Bergamo and Canottieri has the wildcard against Trento who in turn are forced to win in order to hope to progress to the next round. Rari Nantes leads for most of the match and takes the lead at 9-7 with 5 minutes to go. Pastorella's saves and then successive goals from Carotenuto and Garofalo again bring Milan to the final 9-9.
The third day is decisive with all 4 teams competing for passage to the final. The first match sees Trento easily beat Andrea Doria 13-3. The last match is the Lombard derby between Milan and Bergamo. Balanced match until the third half. Then Bergamo puts the turbo on and scores a 3-0 run which with 4 minutes left means 9-6 for the Orobic side. It seems like the end for Canottieri but Coach Zucchi together with the boys are die hard and score two consecutive goals with the usual Garofalo and Carotenuto, and with 22" from the end Alessandro Pagani born in 2010 takes care of bringing the equalizer for Milan with great responsibility a shot on an extra man that means 9-9. The following action Bergamo tries with the wingers to find the winning goal but the Canottieri defense rejects the attack and at the final siren there is great joy with the historic qualification for the national final for the Milanese team.
The final ranking reads Canottieri first with 5 points, second place Water Polo Bergamo and Rari Nantes Trento with 4 points, fourth Andrea Doria with 3 points. Bergamo reaches the final thanks to the victory in the direct clash against Trento.
At the end of the tournament Marco Zucchi, coach of Milan, rejoices together with the team: "We did something unthinkable, thanks to my 20 boys. The character shown in these matches makes me proud of them. In the last 4 games we were always behind, and we always found the winning and equalizing goal which means the national final. Maybe we won the match where we didn't play well, while in the two draws the team produced excellent water polo. We won a very balanced and very difficult group, playing at home helped us but now we are going to play in a facility that can be defined as the scale of water polo and we certainly don't want to stop."
Congratulations also from the General Director of Canottieri Milano Francesco Fumagalli.” I can only express satisfaction and gratitude to the boys of the youth team, thanks to the wise guidance of their coaches, they showed some healthy and beautiful water polo! It was also a good test for the Company which was hosting a similar event for the first time and everyone was ready, great team work in and out of the water. The boys fought tirelessly until the last second in every match, representing the great value of sport! Now head and heart in Naples to fight in this deserved Final eight"
The groups and regulations of the Final have already been established, where PN Bergamo, Sporting Lodi, Dynamic Biella, Roma 2020, Roma Waterpolo, Italica Sport Reggio Calabria, Swimming Club Tivoli will participate together with Canottieri.
Meeting at the Felice Scandone swimming pool, to conclude the competitive season in the best possible way.
Milan rowers
Water Polo Sector
