UVSE is the first winner of the Euro
Cup Women – despite losing the first leg at home, they came up big four days
later to claim the trophy. Ferencvaros had beaten them in their previous five
encounters this season, but the favourites couldn’t rise to the occasion in
front of a capacity crowd. At the same time, UVSE’s youngsters were flying
high, and with a 0-5 run in the last five minutes they claimed their second
European victory after lifting the LEN Trophy in 2017.
Final, 2nd leg: FTC-Telekom Budapest
(HUN) v UVSE Budapest (HUN) 9-13 – aggregate: 18-21
After some tense battling with
mistakes at both sides, Dora Leimeter put away the first woman-up, but Natasa
Rybanska also put UVSE on the scoreboard with a nice action goal, though they
needed three and a half minutes for that. Dora Toth-Csabai’s 6m shot found the
back of the net, then Panna Macsai converted a penalty for 2-2. With 53 seconds
to go, Tamara Farkas blasted one from a 6 on 5 while UVSE missed their last
one, so FTC led 3-2 after eight minutes.
Another extra gone without a shot
from UVSE, though their next one went in, thanks to Kata Hajdu’s nice bouncer.
The hosts started having problems soon, missed two extras while their rivals
scored from the following possessions – first Kamilla Farago hit one from the
perimeter to take the lead, then Gabriella Szucs doubled it with a clam finish
in a woman-up for 3-5 and at this stage they stood better in aggregate. UVSE
killed a third woman-down but couldn’t expand the gap and Szonja Kuna broke the
6-minute silence of FTC. She was on fire, in 35 seconds she sent another one to
the top right corner, again from action for 5-5. Farago netted her second from
a 6 on 5 for 5-6, while Ferencvaros still struggled with their extra, they
missed the fourth one in this quarter. Not with action shots, though, Greta
Gurisatti’s blast blew up in the net. Still, UVSE led at halftime as Hajdu also
sent the ball home from an extra for 6-7 – to make it even in aggregate.
Not surprisingly, FTC missed another
one at the beginning, though UVSE couldn’t make theirs either, the goal-line
defence set-up worked for the home side. Alda Magyari came up with another save
in a woman-down. Something similar happened at the other side, but UVSE
regained the ball and Farago’s brilliant lob put her side 6-8 up. After seven
straight misses, Panna Petik finally sent the ball home from a 6 on 5, to score
FTC’s first after 5:35 minutes into this period. And the business kicked in,
after UVSE missed a clean shot from close, Kuna hit her third from the
following 6 on 5, to level the score at 8-8, so FTC retained the single-goal
advantage in aggregate before the final period.
The first minute seemed to be crucial
as UVSE earned back-to-back woman-ups but FTC’s defence worked quite well as
they killed both – and with 5:35 remaining Panna Pocze netted a great action
goal from the wing for 9-8. Despite the 3-0 run, UVSE weren’t done, Farago
halted her team’s scoreless phase after almost seven minutes with a fine
distant shot, her 4th hit in the evening, and 50 seconds later Tiba buried a
penalty for 9-10. Magyari made a huge save in a woman-down and Vanda Baksa’s
left-handed shot also found its way to the net – it was now a 0-3 run in 1:43
minutes. With 2:15 to go, UVSE got another 6 on 5, after a time-out they could
go for a three-goal lead – and they took it as Baksa hit it from the right wing
for 9-12. FTC were in trouble with exactly two minutes remaining on the clock –
coaching legend Gyorgy Gerendas burnt his second time-out, but it didn’t help.
A block denied FTC’s woman-up once more (they were unable to score in the last
5:35 minutes), and UVSE made no mistake to keep their advantage. Another save
from Magyari on a woman-down and Panna Szegedi’s goal sealed UVSE’s brilliant
win and a second trophy in the club’s history after 2017.
How they saw it
Marton Benczur, coach, UVSE
“I thought my team were not able to
surprise me any longer but today they just did that, once again. Of course, we
wanted this win, and we watched the videos of our previous games, and of the
first leg and we saw some points where we could attack FTC’s weaknesses. OK,
the plan is one thing, and the delivery is another and today the girls were
simply amazing in implementing everything we agreed before the game. Still,
credits go to Ferencvaros, they have a great team, by all aspects they are
better than us, but today we just caused a surprise. This was a great final and
this game was a praise of Hungarian water polo, both sides showed tremendous
quality and my young players just offered a glimpse what the future may behold
for Hungary.”
Gyorgy Gerendas, coach, FTC
“Though we won the previous five
matches, we know that series are usually halted and, unfortunately, it happened
today. It was again a huge physical battle and I felt that even if we took the
lead in the fourth, after we simply stopped, perhaps because of a bit of
exhaustion. Even the best coach, not me, the best one, would tell you that
there are days when a team simply cannot succeed for some reasons and today we
had a block, both mentally and physically and were unable to overcome it.”
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