Champions League Women, Semi-finals –
Summary, Game reports with post-game quotes
Sabadell’s exceptional run in the
Champions League Women Final Four continued, they reached their 9th final in 12
years. The Spaniards had to dig deep to win an epic match against 8-time
champion Orizzonte as the Italians put up a great fight but couldn’t hold on in
the final period. The hosts shall face their local arch-rival Mataro in the
title bout as fellow Spanish side managed to end Hungary’s Dunaujvaros’ dream
run and reached their first big final. History has already made, though, as
this is going to be the first time in LEN’s top women competition’s history
when clubs of the same nation stage a showdown for the trophy.
Semi-finals: Ekipe Orizzonte (ITA) v
Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 12-13, CN Asssolim Mataro (ESP) v Dunaujvarosi VC
(HUN) 12-9
Saturday fixtures – 16.00, bronze
medal match: Dunaujvaros v Orizzonte – 17.30, final: Mataro v Sabadell
Defying the expectations, Orizzonte
almost ruined Sabadell’s party as the Italians came up with a great
performance, held on for three periods and started the last one with a
single-goal lead in hand (11-10). Still, experience, team-depth, plus the loud
support of the capacity crowd sent Sabadell through as the hosts managed to
score three straight goals while shutting out the Italians for seven minutes.
Orizzonte pulled one back 45 seconds from time but couldn’t save the game to a
shootout in the last 20 seconds. This means that Sabadell’s outstanding run to
make the finals continued, it is their 10th appearance in the Final Four and
they will play for the title for the 9th time – and their winning ratio stands
at 4/4 when the event was held in their pool.
It's going to be their arch-rival
Mataro which may prevent them from continuing their march as their fellows did
a clean job and beat Dunaujvaros. The Hungarian youngsters, stunning even
themselves by making the F4, put up a brave fight but were unable to force a
balanced match. After 0-1, Mataro set the tone with a 5-0 run and from that
point they didn’t let Dunaujvaros smell blood at any stage of the game. In the
second half, Mataro kept a gap of three, then four goals, led 10-5 at one point
and never looked back.
This sets up a historical final,
featuring two sides from the same nation – it never happened before in the top
women club competition’s history.
Game reports and post-game quotes
Orizzonte v Sabadell 12-13
Maggie Steffens opened the scoring,
the three-time Olympic champion US star netted a fine action goal, then Laura
Ester made a fantastic steal, preventing an almost sure penalty (or goal) –
however, she couldn’t do much with the first pinpoint shots of the Italians, by
Dafne Bettini in a woman-up and by Claudia Marlette from the perimeter. Sabrina
van der Sloot quickly buried a penalty for 2-2 to complete the 74-second
madness, then both sides missed an extra as the defences stepped up, and goals
dried up for the remaining 3:46 minutes.
Orizzonte drew first blood in the
second, Giulia Giacava finished a 6 on 5 from close after a great assist by
Bettini, then Giuseppina Condorelli made a big stop in a woman-down, and Alice
Williams hit one from the distance. The host were getting into trouble as
Bettini put away another extra for 5-2 – Spain’s veteran goalie Laura Ester was
yet to make a save at this stage. Before the crisis was deepening, Betriz Ortiz
sent the ball to the top left corner from a woman-up, then Steffens netted a
brilliant one from the centre again and from the third straight possession
Judit Forca found a hole between the goalie’s hands from the wing – Sabadell
needed 1:49 seconds to come back to even at 5-5.
The Italians didn’t crash, Morena
Leone’s fine bouncer ended up in the goal in a 6 on 5 – they scored again after
four minutes. The advantage did not last long, though Sabadell needed four
shots in back-to-back extras to equalise – after three huge saves, Condorelli
couldn’t do much against Irene Gonzalez, who was left unmarked at the wing – so
it was still even, 6-6, at halftime.
For the first time after 0-1,
Sabadell grabbed the lead as Gonzalez came up with a magnificent lob this time,
but Bronte Halligan replied with a quick double, both from action in 55
seconds, so Orizzonte were very much back in business. Another lob, now by
Ortiz, did the damage at the other end, then a one-pass 6 on 5 and a nice tip
from Valeria Palmieri gave back the lead to the Italians. A block denied the
Spaniards’ next woman-up, but Forca’s distant blast was one of a kind, good
enough for 9-9. And goals didn’t stop coming, Marletta finished off a woman-up,
then van der Sloot converted a penalty, and Ester couldn’t put a hand on Alice
Williams’ ball from the perimeter either. Then fine blocks saved Orizzonte’s
net in the next two woman-downs – in a quarter which saw nine goals, these were
real feats and let them turn into the final period with a single-goal advantage
(11-10).
With the world’s best centre-forwards
in the line-up, Sabadell went on claiming extras, and in the fourth they made
the first one right away, Ortiz hit her third from the right-wing for
11-11. Williams was blocked in a 6 on 5
and that looked crucial as the hosts made another one, Maica Garcia put it away
from close for 11-12. Condorelli did a fine save, then some great defending
prevented another goal from the hosts in a counter and with two minutes
remaining, Orizzonte could play a 6 on 5 after a time-out. However – and this
did not happen for the first time in her career –, Ester stepped up when it was
absolutely crucial, she made two saves which proved to be decisive as Forca
sent another lob to the net from a dying woman-up at the other end. First time
in the game, Sabadell led by two and only 59 seconds remained. Halligan pulled
one back from the perimeter in 14 seconds for 12-13, so Orizzonte could hope
for a last possession. Thanks to a fine steal in the field, they had 20 seconds
after a time-out to save the game to a shootout. A bit surprisingly, they
didn’t attempt a 7 on 6, and on equal strength they were unable to create any
danger and a loose ball ended the contest.
Post-game quotes
David Palma, coach, Sabadell
“It was a very tough match, Orizzonte
started playing in a way that we should switch our game and put a focus on our
shooting. In the fourth period we changed for pressing and looked for counter
attacks and that change brought its result at the end.”
Tania di Mario, President, Orizzonte
“It was maybe the experience which
decided this match. It was a great learning opportunity, a game back to the
future. It’s hard to talk about this game as the team played great water polo
and I’m really proud of them. As for the fourth period, I would say, we have to
learn not to be afraid of winning.”
Maggie Steffens, player, Sabadell
“It was a fun game to play and
yesterday I said that this event is called Final Four for a reason. You can
expect one-goal games, teams being up then down, here every second counts. I
still have chills after this semi-final, for being here, playing the sport
water polo we love and ending on top. I think one thing we have – and I’m
really grateful for – is depth. You know, you look at our bench and it’s scary.
Whoever is in the water, they would give everything, for Sabadell, the logo on
our chest, and we are ready to fight whoever is in the water and do that till
the end.”
Bronte Halligan, player, Orizzonte
“I think we’ve just missed the
finesse at the end, a couple of shots. Unfortunately, Sabadell won by one, they
got the home advantage which always helps them, but it was a really fun game,
the fans were amazing in this beautiful pool. I’m a bit disappointed, this is
not what we came for obviously, but good luck for Sabadell in the final. I have
to go back to see the video for what changed for the fourth period, I think we
stayed together as a team, executed a lot of our gameplan. I’m really proud of
the girls, for almost all of us, this was our first Final Four, still, we
should be happy with how we played, how we executed what we wanted even if it
did not come off at the end.”
Assolim Mataro (ESP) v Dunaujvarosi
VC (HUN) 12-9
The difference between the individual
quality and the depth of the teams were a lot more significant than in the
first semi and the Mataro fans created as much noise as the Sabadell camp in
the first game, so everything was given to witness another Spanish fiesta.
At the beginning Dunaujvaros stood
firm, for almost seven minutes they didn’t leave much chance to Mataro to score
on equal strength. What’s more, they took the lead from a woman-up early on and
Mataro could equalise deep into the opening period from their second 6 on 5.
However, lately they managed to break the defensive line of the Hungarians,
first by their fellow Rita Keszthelyi who set up a fine shooting chance for
herself, then Vivian Sevenich delivered a penalty and Anni Espar converted in –
in 32 seconds Mataro jumped to a 3-1 lead.
And the Spaniards picked up their
game early in the second, Sevenich’s backhander and Espar’s pinpoint shot
expanded the gap to 5-1 in 50 seconds. Dunaujvaros couldn’t really penetrate
their defence for quite a while, then Garda broke the ice after 10:10 minutes.
Lili Dobi pulled one more back 49 seconds later, but Silvia Morell halted the
minor surge with a fine lob from action for 6-3. Brigitta Horvath put away the
Magyars’ second 6 on 5, but Mataro also did well in theirs, Sevenich hit her
third from close to make it 7-4 at halftime.
Espar reset the four-goal difference
with another distant blast in the third, then Nikoletta Szabo’s fine action
goal kept Dunaujvaros slim hopes alive, still, it was visible that while Mataro’s
offence could create danger in every single possession, Dunaujvaros struggled
to overplay their rivals’ defence. Once in a while, they could set up
something, but after Sevenich forced another penalty and Keszthelyi buried it,
order was restored. Silvia Avegno put away a woman-up for 10-5, and even though
Brigitta Horvath also sent the ball home from a 6 on 5 with 0:07 on the clock,
it was hard to see that Mataro would have any problem in the final period,
starting from 10-6.
The Hungarians fought on, their
bravery resulted two fine action goals, but Mataro always replied immediately
to keep the four-goal difference, before the game could have heated up a bit.
Horvath scored her fourth for 12-9, though, and it was less than two minutes to
go when Dunaujvaros could play another 6 on 5 after a time-out but it didn’t
click, so the all-Spanish clash in the final was settled.
Post-game quotes
Dani Ballart, coach, Sabadell
“This is the Final Four, with the
four best teams, so no one could think that a semi-final can be an easy match.
Not now. Maybe, ten-fifteen years ago you had one-sided matches, but today you
have all the information on the other teams. Like today, we thought that
Dunaujvaros might change something in their game, their style and they changed,
and they did their job very well. So we had to adjust our defence, and that was
the key of our win.”
Attila Mihok, coach, Dunaujvaros
“Our offence wasn’t that hard-pushing
this day, still, had anyone said before the game that we could score nine goals
to Mataro, I would have signed it off immediately. Our big goal was to hold
Mataro under ten goals, then I could have called the result amazing. However,
we had to give up taking risks in offence and shoot from every angle, instead
focused on our transition backwards and on our defence as Mataro is quite
strong and had we taken shots whenever we saw a chance, we could have ended up
conceding 20 goals or more. Still, I think this is a fine result from our young
team.”
Rita Keszthelyi, player, Mataro
“At the beginning of the season I
really wished not to play against any Hungarian teams once I joined Mataro –
now this was the third game against my fellows. Of course, I offered my
thoughts what we might expect from Dunaujvaros and they played that game, with two
centre-forwards, forcing us to make a zone defending but this was their best
chance. They applied a defensive style, not to make any mistake in front, using
the few chances opening and I should say they did a great job. They were much
more disciplined than in the past seasons, that brought them to the Final Four,
so we also had to play with discipline to bring the expected result. I think
the team have a lot more to offer and I do hope we could play a great match
with Sabadell for the title – this was our goal from the beginning of the
season and now there are only one game to play.”
Krisztina Garda, player, Dunaujvaros
“We couldn’t have expected more, and
I think we did a good job, managed to play a good game and could leave the pool
with our heads held high. I would say we were close to our maximum, I’d say
only we conceded two or three goals which could have been avoided, but on the
whole, we did well.”
