BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Indiana University goalie Jessica Gaudreault (Sr., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada/St. Joseph) suffered the loss and Hoosiers’ alum Shae Fournier (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Grant Park) did not score as Canada dropped an 11-9 decision to Russia on Friday, July 28, in the Third Place game of the 2017 FINA World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, at the Alfred Hajos Pool.
Canada was doomed by a poor shooting performance on man-up opportunities as the squad shot a meager four-of-14, while Russia converted on three-of-eight power-play bids.
Facing the 2016 Olympic Bronze Medalist, Canada was aiming to add a bronze to its Summer 2017 jewelry collection after taking home a Silver Medal at the FINA World League Super Final in Shanghai.
Traling 2-0 inside the first three minutes of the game courtesy goals by Joelle Bekhazi and Hayley McKelvey, the Russians recorded a scoring revolution with back-to-back markers to knot the game at two-all. Monika Eggens converted a penalty to regain the lead for Canada, but Daria Ryzhkova scored in the waning moments of the first quarter and in the dawning seconds of the second quarter to stake Russia to its first lead at 4-3.
Emma Wright scored on a counter bid to pull Canada even at four-all, but Maria Borisova and Ekaterina Prokofyeva ticked on back-to-back tallies to hand Russia a two-goal lead at 6-4. Eggens closed the gap back to one at 6-5 with a man-up strike, but Russia sneaked in a last-gasp goal from Alena Serzhantova who swept a ball backwards across the goal line at the halftime buzzer for a 7-5 margin midway through the game.
For Canada, the halftime deficit would prove to be the difference in the game as the two teams exchanged pairs of goals in the third and fourth quarters leading to the 11-9 final score.
For Canada, Eggens netted a hat-trick with Emma Wright tallying a hat-trick. Bekhazi and McKelvey accounted for the two other scores for the Canadians who conclude the tournament with a 4-3 record (10-4 L vs. Italy; 9-8 W vs. China; 16-6 W vs. Brazil; 16-3 W vs. New Zealand; 6-4 W vs. Hungary; 12-10 L vs. Spain; 11-9 L vs. Russia).
Gaudreualt was the goalie of record in each of Canada’s games, while Fournier finishes the tournament with eight goals as she punched in a pair against China and hat-tricks versus both Brazil and Spain.
For Canada, the Fourth Place finish marks a dramatic seven place rise in the international ranks as the team finished 11th at the 2015 FINA World Championship in Kazan, Russia. Russia moves up three spots over a Sixth Place finish in 2015.
