2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World League

The 2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World League was the 15th edition of the annual women's international water polo tournament. It was played between November 2017 and June 2018 and open to all women's water polo national teams. After participating in a preliminary round, eight teams qualified to play in a final tournament, called the Super Final from 28 May to 2 June 2018.^[1][2]

2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World League
League	FINA Water Polo World League
Sport	Water Polo
Duration	21 November 2017 to 2 June 2018
Super Final
Finals champions	United States (12th title)
Runners-up	Netherlands
Finals MVP	Sabrina van der Sloot
FINA Women's Water Polo World League seasons
← 2017 2019 →

In the world league, there are specific rules that do not allow matches to end in a draw. If teams are level at the end of the 4th quarter of any world league match, the match will be decided by a penalty shootout. Teams earn points in the standings in group matches as follows:

• Match won in normal time - 3 points
• Match won in shootout - 2 points
• Match lost in shootout - 1 point
• Match lost in normal time - 0 points

Europe

• November 21, 2017 – May 1, 2018

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	6	3	1	0	2	60	56	+4	11	Super Final		—	9–8	10–11	12–12 (3–1)
2	Russia	6	3	0	0	3	59	59	0	9			7–9	—	9–6	13–11
3	Netherlands	6	3	0	0	3	54	54	0	9			8–11	12–13	—	7–6
4	Hungary	6	2	0	1	3	56	60	−4	7			10–9	12–9	5–10	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

Inter-Continental Cup

• April 3–8, 2018, Auckland, New Zealand

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada	3	3	0	0	0	41	28	+13	9	Super Final		—		15–13
2	China	3	2	0	0	1	31	23	+8	6	Quarterfinals		10–11	—	11–7	10–5
3	Japan	3	1	0	0	2	29	33	−4	3					—
4	New Zealand (H)	3	0	0	0	3	17	34	−17	0			5–15		7–9	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
(H) Host

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	2	2	0	0	0	19	11	+8	6	Quarterfinals		—
2	United States	2	1	0	0	1	21	15	+6	3			8–9	—	13–6
3	Kazakhstan	2	0	0	0	2	9	23	−14	0			3–10		—
4	New Zealand 2^[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0^[b]			2–20	2–24	5–19	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
Notes:

1. New Zealand was represented by 2nd team
2. Matches of New Zealand 2 are not counted in the competition

5th–8th place bracket

	5th–8th place classification				5th place match
	7 April
	Kazakhstan (pen.)	14 (4)
					8 April
	New Zealand	14 (3)
					Kazakhstan	9
	7 April
					Japan	11
	Japan	^[a]
	New Zealand 2
					7th place match
					8 April
					New Zealand	^[b]
					New Zealand 2

Championship bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Gold medal match
	6 April
	China	9
					7 April
	Kazakhstan	6
					China	7
	6 April
					Australia	8
	New Zealand	4
									8 April
	Australia	15
									Australia	7
	6 April
									United States	10
	Japan	9
					7 April
	United States	16
					United States	16
	6 April
					Canada	11			Bronze medal match
	Canada	^[c]
									8 April
	New Zealand 2
									China	8
									Canada	9

Final ranking

Qualified to Super Final

Rank	Team
	United States
	Australia
	Canada
4	China
5	Japan
6	Kazakhstan
7	New Zealand

Super Final

May 28 – June 2, 2018, Kunshan, China
In the Super Final the eight qualifying teams are split into two groups of four teams with all teams progressing to the knock-out stage.^[3]

Qualified teams

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania
—	Canada   United States	China (Host)   Japan	Netherlands   Russia   Spain	Australia

Seeding

Group A	Group B
Australia (2nd ICC)   Spain (1st Europe)   China (4th ICC) (Host)   Netherlands (3rd Europe)	United States (1st ICC)   Russia (2nd Europe)   Canada (3rd ICC)   Japan (5th ICC)

Preliminary round

Group A

All times are CST (UTC+8)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	3	3	0	0	0	24	18	+6	9	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	3	2	0	0	1	29	22	+7	6
3	China (H)	3	1	0	0	2	21	29	−8	3
4	Australia	3	0	0	0	3	20	25	−5	0

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
(H) Host

---

28 May 2018 18:00	Australia	5–7	Netherlands	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 1–1, 1–3, 2–1

28 May 2018 20:00	Spain	13–6	China	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 5–0, 4–1, 2–3

---

29 May 2018 16:30	Spain	6–7	Netherlands	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 0–2, 2–1, 3–2, 1–2

29 May 2018 19:30	Australia	6–8	China	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 2–2, 1–1, 1–2

---

30 May 2018 16:30	Spain	10–9	Australia	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 3–4, 2–3, 3–2, 2–0

30 May 2018 19:30	China	7–10	Netherlands	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–5, 2–2, 1–1

Group B

All times are CST (UTC+8)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	0	0	36	16	+20	9	Quarterfinals
2	Canada	3	2	0	0	1	29	25	+4	6
3	Russia	3	1	0	0	2	38	31	+7	3
4	Japan	3	0	0	0	3	18	49	−31	0

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

---

28 May 2018 15:00	Russia	9–11	Canada	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 3–4, 3–1, 3–5, 1–1

28 May 2018 16:30	United States	14–4	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 5–1, 6–2, 2–0

---

29 May 2018 15:00	Russia	22–10	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 6–3, 4–2, 9–4, 3–1

29 May 2018 18:00	United States	12–5	Canada	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–2, 5–0, 2–2

---

30 May 2018 15:00	Russia	7–10	United States	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 0–2, 3–4, 2–2

30 May 2018 18:00	Canada	13–4	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 5–0, 4–1, 2–2, 2–1

Final round

5th–8th place bracket

	5th–8th place classification				5th place match
	1 June
	Spain	11
					2 June
	Australia	8
					Spain	10
	1 June
					China	5
	China	8
	Japan	7
					7th place match
					2 June
					Australia	10
					Japan	7

5th–8th place classification

^[4]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

1 June 2018 15:00	Spain	11–8	Australia	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 5–1, 3–1, 1–4

1 June 2018 16:30	China	8–7	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 0–2, 4–3, 2–0

7th place match

^[5]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

2 June 2018 15:00	Australia	10–7	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 2–2, 3–2, 4–2

5th place match

^[5]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

2 June 2018 16:30	Spain	10–5	China	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–1, 4–1, 2–2, 2–1

Championship bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Gold medal match
	31 May
	Spain	11
					1 June
	Russia	12
					Russia	3
	31 May
					United States	8
	Australia	1
									2 June
	United States	12
									United States	8
	31 May
									Netherlands	6
	China	2
					1 June
	Canada	5
					Canada	5
	31 May
					Netherlands	11			Bronze medal match
	Netherlands	18
									2 June
	Japan	7
									Russia	7
									Canada	6

Quarterfinals

^[6]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

31 May 2018 15:00	Spain	11–12	Russia	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 3–3, 3–0, 1–3  PSO: 3–4

31 May 2018 16:30	Netherlands	18–7	Japan	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–1, 6–1, 4–3, 6–2

31 May 2018 18:00	Australia	1–12	United States	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 0–1, 0–2, 1–5, 0–4

31 May 2018 19:30	China	2–5	Canada	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 1–1, 0–2, 0–1

Semifinals

^[4]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

1 June 2018 18:00	Russia	3–8	United States	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–3, 0–3, 1–2, 1–0

1 June 2018 19:30	Canada	5–11	Netherlands	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 1–2, 1–4, 1–2

Bronze medal match

^[5]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

2 June 2018 18:00	Russia	7–6	Canada	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–2, 1–1, 2–1
	Prokofyeva 3 four players 1	Goals	Wright 3 three players 1

Gold medal match

^[5]
All times are CST (UTC+8)

2 June 2018 19:30	United States	8–6	Netherlands	Kunshan, China
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–0, 3–2, 2–2
	Fattal 3 Seidemann 2 Hauschild, Steffens, Williams 1	Goals	van der Sloot 3 Genee, Megens, Sleeking 1

Final ranking

^[5]

Rank^[1] Team     United States     Netherlands     Russia 4   Canada 5   Spain 6   China 7   Australia 8   Japan

2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World League    United States 12th title Team Roster Ashleigh Johnson, Brigitta Games, Melissa Seidemann, Rachel Fattal, Paige Hauschild, Maggie Steffens (C), Kaleigh Gilchrist, Kiley Neushul, Aria Fischer, Jamie Neushul, Stephania Haralabidis, Alys Williams, Gabby Stone. Head coach: Adam Krikorian.

Individual awards

^[5]

• Most Valuable Player
  •   Sabrina van der Sloot (NED)
• Best Goalkeeper
  •   Ashleigh Johnson (USA)
• Top Scorer
  •   Maud Megens (NED) — 15 goals

Notes

1. Japan 24–3 New Zealand 2 (Match is not counted in the competition)
2. New Zealand 12–1 New Zealand 2 (Match is not counted in the competition)
3. Canada 18–4 New Zealand 2 (Match is not counted in the competition)

References

1. "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 78. (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
2. FINA Women's Water Polo World League 2018 fina.org
3. Women Super Final 2018 fina.org
4. “USA-Netherlands out for gold in FINA Women's Water Polo Super Final“ fina.org June 1, 2018.
5. “USA retains FINA Women's Water Polo Super Final in Kunshan“ fina.org June 2, 2018.
6. “USA-Russia, Canada-Netherlands in Water Polo Super Final semifinals“ fina.org May 31, 2018.

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