A rock-solid goalkeeping performance and a flurry of first-half goals sparked Hawai'i at the 38th annual Hawaiian Invitational Water Polo Tournament yesterday.

Hawaiian Islands goalie Jaime Hipp stopped shot after shot, and Katie Flanagan scored two goals as their team held off Australia, 5-4, to win its third consecutive women's open division at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

The Hawaiian Invitational is the largest water polo tournament in the state, featuring 99 teams from the United States, Australia, Canada and Italy. The eight-division tournament runs 258 games in six days.

Hawai'i won two division titles at the tournament. On Saturday, Hawai'i captured the girls 14-under division, defeating South Coast, Calif., 9-5.

The Hawaiian Islands team was comprised of mostly Punahou graduates with a few invited players such as Hipp, according to coach Ken Smith.

"It was definitely a thrown-together team," said Hipp, who attended Edison High School in California. "I've never played with all these girls, except for Maureen Flanagan and Katie Flanagan at UCLA."

Hipp, a former UCLA player who is currently training with the U.S. national team, was named the MVP of the women's open division.

"She was our rock," Katie Flanagan said of Hipp. "We relied on her a little too much, poor Jaime. But she played great."

Yesterday's game was the second meeting between Hawai'i and Australia in as many days. On Saturday, the two teams played to a 3-3 tie.

Both Hawai'i and Australia entered the final with identical 5-0-1 records, with Australia's high-powered offense averaging 7.6 goals per game.

The Australians nearly pulled off the comeback, scoring three second-half goals to cut the lead to 5-4 in the fourth quarter.

"It was a little scary," said Hipp, whose team was outshot 20 to 9 in the game. "I felt they were creeping up a little bit. We were just trying to control the ball."

Hawai'i's strategy was simple yesterday: Have Flanagan stop shots, run the counter attack and get back on defense.

"We don't have a proper set offense, usually," Hipp said. "So we try to get more counters, as opposed to setting up on offense."

Added Smith: "It was just a great team defense, and it's really anchored by Jaime in the goal."

Hawai'i led 4-1 at halftime, but saw saw its lead cut to 4-3 on Elly Goodwin's goal in the fourth quarter with 4:16 remaining.

Hawai'i responded when Angie Giancaterino recovered a deflected shot and scored an insurance goal with 1:03 left. Australia closed to 5-4 on Kelly Gruber's second goal of the game with 22 seconds remaining, but Hawai'i ran out the clock.

"We knew we had to throw a lot of quality shots against their goalkeeper, and we didn't do that early on," Australia coach Kyle Jones said.

Australia took a brief 1-0 lead on Libby Magann's goal nearly one minute into the first quarter.

Hawai'i then erupted for four unanswered goals. Kellen Fletcher and Flanagan scored in the first quarter, and Maris Smith and Flanagan added goals in the second quarter.

Hawai'i played without Maureen Flanagan, a former national team member, who left the team to attend a wedding on the Mainland, Smith said.

"That was big to lose Mo in this final game," Smith said. "We don't have a lot of depth, because most of our subs are our 18-and-under girls. So everyone had to play a lot smarter, and a lot better."

In other winners were: Corona Del Mar, Calif., (boys 14-under), Lamorinda, Calif., (boys 16-under), Villa Park, Calif., (boys 18-under), Norcal, Calif., (girls 16-under), Norcal, Calif., (girls 18-under), and Roma, Italy, (men's open). See scores in For the Record, Page D6.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.