Olympic Nice Natation hosted the club of Sète this Saturday evening at Jean Bouin as part of the 6th day of the championship. The Nice and Sète water polo players parted ways with a draw (11-11) at the end of a contested match.
Nice started the match well, with the Nice team scoring first after 1’30. Then Samuel Nardon’s men defended well but eventually succumbed to the repeated assaults of the Sète water polo players. Sète equalized after 3 minutes of play and then took the lead shortly after.
Nice, too disorganized in attack, couldn’t come back (hit the bar twice). The Sète team then took advantage and widened the gap, scoring a 3rd goal in the 5th minute. Sète, efficient towards the end of the first period, scored two more goals, leading 5-1. Nice was not present at the end of the 1st quarter, logically trailing against an effective Sète team in both attack and defense.
It took 2’30 of play in the 2nd period before seeing a goal from Nice, scored by Izdinsky (5-2). Then, the score changed several times within two minutes. The Sète players scored a 6th goal, followed by Nice putting in two, making the score 6-4 after 4’30 of play. The Sète water polo players widened the gap again by scoring a 7th goal. But Nardon’s players, who had regained their effectiveness, were present during this second quarter and scored a 5th and 6th goal, standing at 7-6 with 1 minute left in the second period. Despite a good performance by Rémi Garsau, Sète scored an 8th goal just before halftime.
At halftime, the score was 8-6 in favor of Sète.
The goalkeepers and defenses prevailed at the start of the third period! The score didn’t change for more than 4 minutes! Garsau notably made 2 decisive saves that allowed Nice to believe in a comeback. But Sète widened the gap again by scoring a 9th goal (9-6, 5’ of play).
Nardon’s men didn’t give up and gave their all to come back. They scored 2 goals within 1 minute at the end of the 3rd period. They were only trailing by one goal! 9-8 at the end of the third period!
At the beginning of the fourth period, the Nice water polo players came back to tie the score (9-9). Then, thanks to several decisive saves by Rémi Garsau, the two teams remained tied. Eventually, ONN took the lead after 4’30 of play in the 4th period!! Rémi Garsau made several more crucial saves. Despite the Nice goalkeeper’s efforts, the Sète players returned to even the score with 1’30 left in the match (10-10).
Nardon’s men found the necessary resources to go and score an 11th goal! 11-10 with less than a minute to go! But with 20 seconds left, Sète tied the score once again! 11-11! An incredible end to the match!
The score didn’t change despite a final offensive attempt from Nice. After this match, Nice remains unbeaten in the championship with 3 wins and 1 draw!
