Conference Cup Women: Qualification Round II gets off to dramatic start with several close battles

The opening day of the Qualification Round II in the Conference Cup Women offered nothing but sheer excitement. Three of the five matches contested were decided by a single goal, one ended in a shootout, and only Tenerife could earn a three-goal win, but that also came after a hard-fought contest.

Group A (Alba Iulia)

CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (ROU) 8-7 ASD Bogliasco (ITA)

Host Unirea pulled off a crucial and somewhat stunning win on the opening night.

The first period saw a series of missed six-on-fives (two and four) and a converted penalty by the Italians who then added another one early in the second. The Romanians could score their first after almost 12 minutes, then missed a penalty, before scoring the equaliser for 2-2 with 1:35 before the middle break.

Carlotta Paganuzzi’s double reset the two-goal gap in the third, but again, Unirea managed to score two late goals, in a span of 71 seconds to level it up at 4-4.

Arianna Banchi hit a nice one from action right away in the fourth, followed by a decisive chain of events. It started with an even faster double from the home side, in 46 seconds they took over the lead and added a third to go 7-5 up with 3:12 remaining.

Eleanora Bianco pulled one back from a woman-up, but Dorofea Virtosu netted a fine action goal 44 seconds from time for 8-6.

Bianco buried a penalty in the next possession, but the Romanians burnt 28sec of the remaining 29 and bagged all three points.

Group B (Nea Smyrni)

Panionios GSS (GRE) 16-17 Smile Cosenza Pallanuoto (ITA)

The first period produced perhaps the most spectacular opening we’ve seen on the European stage, a 14-goal madness, seven goals apiece. The first eight all came from action in five minutes and the teams didn’t really miss their chances till after the first break.

A double in 46 seconds deep into the second period gave the Italians an 8-10 lead and they managed to maintain the gap till the half-time break when they were 9-11 up, while the Greeks had to settle for playing the next half without their most experienced player, Margarita Plevritou, who was expelled with substitution three seconds before the buzzer.

This somewhat impacted Panionios as they couldn’t really create chances in front while Federica Morrone’s action shot expanded Cosenza’s lead to three goals with 4:48 on the clock.

Maria-Sotiria Rakintzi lifted the Greeks spirit, she finally scored after six more minutes and also hit the next one a bit later to cut their deficit to one.

Iva Rozic replied from action but after the Italians missed a penalty, Molly Renner brought Panionios back to 12-13, 67 seconds from time.

Still, Rozic quickly dashed the hosts’ hopes by netting two action goals in the first minute in the fourth and even though Margarita Bitsakou buried a penalty soon, Guisy Citino’s centre goal gave the Italians a 13-16 lead.

Panionios’ desperate attempts didn’t bring any fruits in the next three minutes, then Bitsakou managed to hit one from the centre and after killing a woman-down, she converted an extra for 15-16 with 1:16 to go.

However, Rozic also kept her calm and put away the Italians’ extra after a time-out 39 seconds from time and Rakintzi’s action goal came too late, as the Italians didn’t let it go in the remaining 19 seconds.

Group C (Novi Sad)

VK Vojvodina (SRB) 15-16 SV Blau Weiss Bochum (GER)
NC Chania (GRE) 13-16 CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP)

The first game was an even one till 5-5, then the Germans staged a 1-4 rush in the last three minutes before the middle break to take a 6-9 lead.

Bochum seemed to keep the game under control as they always found the answers to the hosts’ goals and with 3:11 to go in the third, they still had that thee-goal advantage at 8-11.

Not much longer, though, as the hosts came up with a great 3-0 surge to equalise and even though Ava Johnson sent another rocket to the net from the perimeter, Isidora Damjanovic did the same 16 seconds from time to make it 12-12.

Johnson put away an extra early in the fourth but the Serbs needed only 38 seconds to score twice to retake the lead for the first time after 2-1 early in the first.

They could hold it only for 25 seconds as Maria Petasi found the back of the net from the outside for 14-14, then Vojvodina missed a crucial six-on-five.

Well, for a while, they made up for it by killing four woman-downs in a row but with 1:08 on the clock Duru Kalegasi netted an action goal to put Bochum ahead once more at 14-15.

Rebecca da Silva converted the Serbs’ following six-on-five 47 seconds from time, but there was one last twist in the plot.

The Germans also forced an extra and after missing the previous four, Johnson scored the winner 11 seconds from time – it was her sixth hit of the evening, a remarkable individual effort too.

The second encounter in Novi Sad produced somewhat similar scenes, at least for three periods. The first crucial point came shortly before the middle break when the Greeks missed a penalty and Elena Camarena scored at the other end for 6-7, with 0:03 to go.

It became more painful early in the third when the Spaniards added another one from action and after a quick exchange of goals they were still 7-9 up.

Still, Chania fought themselves back to even as they managed to shut out their rivals for four minutes. Christina Kotsia led the charge as she scored her fifth goal for 9-9, and after Camarena broke the Spaniards’ silence, Kotsia added her sixth with 1:21 to go for 10-10.

Still, the remaining time was enough for Tenerife to score two action goals and kill a woman-down in between to reset the two-goal gap again before the final period.

And within a minute of the fourth they made sure they would sail away with the win as a quick double expanded their advantage to 10-14.

The Greeks staged a last surge but could only halve their deficit midway through the last period, but Maryn Dempsey sent the ball home from Tenerife’s next possession for 12-15 which proved to be decisive.

Kotsia pulled one back with her eighth goal of the evening with 2:08 on the clock, but they missed their very last chance for a late comeback by missing their next six-on-five and Renee de Kleer’s goal from a counter 37 seconds from time sealed the Spaniards’ victory.

Group D (Istanbul)

HAVK Mladost Zagreb (CRO) 12-12 9 (4-2P) ASD Brizz Nuoto (ITA)

The first eight minutes already served as a preview for the game as it brought a tough battle where Mladost took a 3-2 lead on the heels of Ria Glas who netted all their goals.

Thirty-seven seconds into the second she added a fourth, from a penalty, to make it 4-2, but the Italians then found the way to stop her adding more, at least in the next five minutes, while they managed to come back to even 2:55 before the break. Still, another great move and a fine finish from Glas gave Mladost a 5-4 half-time lead.

Somewhat stunning it was what happened right away after the restart – Brizz scored as many goals in three minutes as in the entire first half and this 0-4 storm rocketed them to an 5-8 lead.

It was Glas, who else, who halted that run with a fine action goal but Rebecca Bianchi finished off a counter around the 4-minute mark to make it 6-9.

As amazing as it may sound, the Glas versus Brizz game was still tight thanks to the Croatian’s seventh hit, for 7-9, and then Nina Jazvin surprised the Italians that there was another player who could score a goal for Mladost, so it stood 8-9 before the final quarter.

Lalelei Maatafa opened the fourth with a great centre-shot but the Croats converted back-to-back extras to catch up their rivals at 10-10.

Dorotea Spampinato replied immediately, and soon the Italians had a six-on-five to lead by two but missed it and Nika Alamat put away another woman-up for 11-11, with 3:15 on the clock.

Then the Croats had another extra but missed it and Glas was fouled out soon, what’s more, Spampinato scored from that six-on-five for 11-12.

In the remaining 2:15 minutes, both sides had desperate attempts, then 16 seconds from time Mladost called a time-out, went for a seven-on-six and Aurora Stipanov scored to save the game to a shootout with 0:03 to go.

As it turned out, this earned two points for the Croats, as their goalie Sara Frketic managed to save the last two shots of the Italians, while the Croats missed only one from the 5m line.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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