Champions League Women: UVSE stun Olympiacos as two quarter-finals spots still to be decided

Apart from Group A, where UVSE’s stunning win over Olympiacos shuffled the cards a bit, the quarter-final berths have all been booked in the other three groups. Mataro and St Andreu also secured their top spot, ahead of Sabadell and Roma respectively as these latter two suffered stunning defeats from the bottom ranked rivals. FTC and Vouliagmeni are also through, as here Fradi are set to finish top with an easy match coming in the last round.

Group A

UVSE-Helia D (HUN) 16-15 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE)
Alimos NAC Betsson (GRE) 9-14 DFVE Vizilabda (HUN)

Standings:1. Olympiacos 12, 2. UVSE 9, 2. DFVE 9, 4. Alimos 0

UVSE and Olympiacos produced a magnificent match, a 31-goal epic in front of packed stands as the local football ultras came to cheer for the Hungarians, creating a unique atmosphere. The hosts went ahead in the first period where they took a 4-3 lead and they managed to double it in the second, in just two minutes they went 6-4 up.

After this kick-start, it was somewhat surprising they couldn’t score any more till the half-time break while the Greeks, lifting their level in defence as they killed two man-downs, came back to even at 6-6.

Leaving their struggles behind, the Magyars needed a minute to hit two right away in the third, but again, Olympiacos responded well and Vasiliki Plevritou buried a penalty and hit one from action to level it up midway through the quarter for 8-8.

Vanda Baksa netted a fine action goal to regain the lead for UVSE and after a killed woman-down, Kamilla Farago added another one and with 1:12 to go, a rebound helped Adrienn Hetzl make it 11-8.

The Greeks got in deeper trouble early in the fourth as UVSE caught a wave and rallied to a 14-9 lead.

Foteini Tricha stepped up, scoring two in 47 seconds, then Stefania Santa buried a penalty and after back-to-back turnover fouls, Tricha scored two more, from counters, so as incredible as it seemed, in a span of 1:39 minutes the Greeks scored five from as many possessions to equalise at 14-14.

The home side could force a penalty in their next possession, Panna Tiba converted it, but Tricha hit her fifth 18 seconds later for 15-15, with one minute remaining.

UVSE earned an extra and even though the first attempt was saved, Tiba, at equal strength, found the back of the net and that was the winning shot 22 seconds from time.

This win put fellow Hungarian side DFVE under pressure as they had to beat Alimos in Greece to maintain some hope of going through.

The Greeks could keep up till half-time, then a three-goal surge from the visitors put them on the desired track.

Though Alimos pulled two back soon and stayed close till 8-9, Csenge Jonkl hit a brilliant double from action in the last 36 seconds to make it 8-11.

DFVE had exactly the same lead as UVSE against Olympiacos after three periods, but here the fourth lacked any similar excitement as the other HUN v GRE duel offered in Budapest.

Alimos were unable to gear up in attack any more while Krisztina Garda hit her fifth, and two late goals sealed the Magyars’ win, which kept them in the race for the quarters, though UVSE are still favoured in case they remain on equal points at the end.

Also, a three-way tie involving Olympiacos is also on the cards, however, the Greeks’ big home wins seem to be a fine guarantee to avoid any unpleasant outcome in their last clash in Dunaujvaros in one month’s time.

Group B

Ekipe Orizzonte (ITA) 11-12 Assolim CN Mataro (ESP)
CN Terrassa (ESP) 9-7 Astralpool Sabadell (ESP)

Standings: 1. Mataro 15, 2. Sabadell 8, 3. Orizzonte 4, 4. Terrassa 3

Orizzonte forced a really tight battle (with 33 exclusions) but the Spaniards still managed to win the game and that secured their first place – as well as Sabadell’s qualification too, so the six-time winners’ loss in Terrassa was somewhat stunning but had little, rather no consequences.

Mataro were in control in Catania in the first half as they built a 5-7 lead and an early double put them 6-9 up. Still, Orizzonte kept on fighting and managed to shut out the Spaniards for five minutes while they climbed back to 8-9.

A pinpoint shot from the perimeter from Martina Claveria halted Mataro’s bad run with 1:46 to go till the last break, but Bronte Halligan buried a penalty in the next possession and Gaia Gagliardi netted an extra to make it even at 10-10, 36 seconds from time.

What’s more, Giulia Viacava also sent the ball home after 30 seconds in the fourth to send the hosts ahead at 11-10. And they killed the next three woman-down – also missed a six-on-five, which would have doubled their advantage – but couldn’t survive the fourth, as Claveria put it away with 1:34 to go.

Orizzonte also earned an extra, but they couldn’t make it after a time-out, while Queralt Bertran scored the winner at the other end, 35 seconds before the final whistle.

That cemented Mataro’s first place and also made sure that Orizzonte were also eliminated, freeing Sabadell from any pressure in the other match.

Indeed, the favourites were far from their usual level and even scoring the first goal in Terrassa, the hosts replied with a late double for 2-1.

Sabadell geared up a bit in the second and took a 3-4 lead by half-time and were still 4-6 up deep into the third, but their rivals managed to level it up 36 seconds before the last interval at 6-6.

Tara Prentice’s centre shot put Sabadell ahead 29 seconds into the fourth – but as it turned out, it was their last hit of the evening as they were unable to add any more in the remaining 7:31 minutes.

Panni Szegedi equalised right away, and Martina Fernandez finished off a counter with four minutes to go. It was a fine defensive affair where Paula Prats finally found the back of the net from action 48 seconds from time to seal Terrassa’s first win.

Group C

FTC-Telekom (HUN) 16-13 Rapallo Pallanuoto (ITA)
Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) 6-19 Vouliagmeni NC (GRE)

Standings: 1. FTC 13, 2. Vouliagmeni 11, 3. Rapallo 6, 4. Spandau 0

FTC and Vouliagmeni secured their respective quarter-final berths with convincing and expected wins.

Fradi set the tone with a 4-0 blast including three action goals. The Italians showed some signs of life early in the second period, with two fine action goals in 89 seconds, but Fradi hit back with a fast double in 67sec to reset the four-goal gap.

Rapallo missed two six-on-fives which proved to be crucial as Rita Keszthelyi fired one in for the hosts for a 7-2 half-time lead.

What already looked substantial enough, was further expanded in the third as Greta Gurisatti netted back-to-back extras for 9-2, which put the game to bed.

Fradi’s grip somewhat loosened at the back, so the remaining five minutes saw four goals apiece – but the Magyars’ win was never in danger.

They were 16-9 up with 3:31 remaining, then Rapallo could score four more in the remaining time while the hosts’ offence was frozen by four turnover fouls, but they didn’t really mind that as this win sealed their place in the quarters and with a home game against Spandau in hand, their top spot seems secured too.

Vouliagmeni enjoyed some easy cruising in Berlin. They took control right away with a 0-4 opening and led 3-8 at half-time.

A three-goal blast in 75 seconds early in the third was a sound proof of their superiority and they expanded the gap against the tiring rivals to reach the top eight comfortably.

Group D

CN Sant Andreu (ESP) 13-9 ZV De Zaan (NED)
SIS Roma (ITA) 11-13 ONE Eger (HUN)

Standings: 1. St Andreu 15, 2. Roma 9, 3. De Zaan 3, 3. Eger 3

De Zaan jumped to a 0-2 lead in St Andreau and the title-holders needed almost five minutes to find their game – but once they did it, they started rumbling and in a span of two minutes they staged a 4-0 run.

They added two more in the second while killing two woman-downs and even though Maud Koopman pulled one back, also halting her side’s 10-minute drought, Ariadna Ruiz’s blast from the perimeter 22 seconds from time gave St Andreu a 7-3 lead.

The Dutch could barely handle the hosts’ fast paced game as St Andreu netted three more in the third and later a fourth action goal expanded their lead to 11-4 before the last quarter.

St Andreu won their previous two encounters by seven goals (the Super Cup final and their match in Holland) and with 2:49 to go it was all set to add another victory with the same margin as the hosts still led 13-6 – but a late surge from De Zaan narrowed the deficit to four at the end.

In a couple of hours it turned out that this win also cemented their first place as Eger claimed a stunning win in Roma, preventing the Italians from having a shot at the top spot by trying to defeat St Andreu with at least four goals.

Midway through the second period, it all went as it had been expected, Roma led 6-3, but their offence dropped till half-time and Kincso Kenez hit an action goal in the last second.

The Italians’ struggles continued while Eger staged the perfect storm and with three more goals in 1:44 minutes they took over the lead at 6-7.

Though the hosts managed to score again, after nine minutes, Eger were really on fire and Kenez hit another one with 0:01 on the clock to make it 8-9 before the final quarter.

She didn’t stop there, 27 seconds into the fourth, doubled the gap, a minute later Sienna Owen added another one which prompted an emergency time-out from the Roman bench, but it didn’t help as Rebecca Parkes’ centre shot made it 8-12 with 4:25 to go.

The Italians tried to launch a great finish, netted back-to-back extras in a minute to halve the gap and after Eger missed a six-on-five, Panna Kudella brought the home side back to 11-12 with 1:47 to go.

But they were unable force the equaliser and Parkes hit her fourth 10 seconds from time to seal Eger’s first win, which also erased Roma’s hope to go for the first place – they qualify in the second position.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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