Bronze medal match – Russia 12, Hungary 12 (7-6)
Eleven ties in regulation, and six more in penalty shootouts was what it took for Russia to finally take the last lead on their seventh penalty shot to come away from the Rio Games with a 19-18 win over Hungary and a bronze medal.
Hungary looked to have clinched the win late in the fourth quarter when Rita Keszthelyi made a penalty shot with 1:11 remaining. With the clock winding down, Hungary was one second from coming away with a win in regulation. That was until Anastasia Simanovich threw one into the right corner of the net on an extra player goal for Russia just before the buzzer to tie the game at 12-12.
The buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter marked the 11th time the two teams had tied in the match. The only time either squad had a two goal lead was when Hungary went up 11-9 with six minutes remaining in the game.
After Hungary went up two, Russia quickly tied it back up, scoring two goals in two minutes on a shot from inside by Ekaterina Prokofyeva and another by Nadezhda Glyzina.
Both teams made their first five shots in the penalty shootout, setting up a sudden-death. Both teams also made their sixth attempt, and Russia’s Ekaterina Lisunova threw her team’s seventh shot into the corner to put Russia up 7-6.
Russian goalkeeper Maria Borisova came up big on the next shot, grabbing Hanna Kisteleki’s shot for the win and the bronze medal.
Glyzina led all scorers with five goals on eight shot attempts in regulation. Lisunova added two goals on five attempts.
Hungary’s Barbara Bujka had three goals, teammates Keszthelyi, Dora Antal and Anna Illes added two goals each.
This is the second time Russia has won bronze in an Olympics, the other being in 2000. Hungary finishes fourth for the third straight Olympics, and has still never won a women’s water polo medal.
Other games
7th place game – China 10, Brazil 5
China found the perfect time for their first win of the Rio Games, defeating Brazil 10-5 to finish in 7th place.
Huanhuan Ma, Zihan Zhao and Xinyan Wang scored two goals each for China, and Jun Yang came away with 16 saves in goal. China led from the second quarter on after finishing the first eight minutes tied 2-2.
Izabella Chiappini had three of Brazil’s five goals. Victoria Chamorro had seven saves in goal.