Conference Cup Women: Tenerife and Panionios secure semifinal tickets on opening day of Final 8
Panionios GSS and CN Tenerife Echeyde both collected six points in Group A’s double round on the opening day of the Conference Cup Women Final Eight in Athens. The victories have already secured the Greeks and Spaniards a place in the semi-finals. In Group B, a single round was played, with Smile Cosenza Pallanuoto and NC Chania starting their respective campaigns with convincing wins. However, in this group, only Friday’s matches will determine which two teams advance to the top four.
2025/26 Conference Cup Women
Final 8, Day 1
Thursday 26 March
Group A
CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) 17-12 Galatasaray Zena (TUR)
CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (ROU) 2-14 Panionios GSS (GRE)
Galatasaray Zena (TUR) 6-13 Panionios GSS (GRE)
CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) 22-9 CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (ROU)
Standings: 1. Panionios 6pts, 1. Tenerife 6pts, 3. Galatasaray 0pts, 3. Alba Iulia 0pts
Group B
Smile Cosenza Pallanuoto (ITA) 15-12 CN Sant Feliu (ESP)
ZAVK Mladost (CRO) 9-13 NC Chania (GRE)
Standings: 1. Chania 3pts, 1. Cosenza 3pts, 3. Sant Feliu 0pts, 3. Mladost 0pts
Group A
CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) 17-12 Galatasaray Zena (TUR)
CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (ROU) 2-14 Panionios GSS (GRE)
Galatasaray Zena (TUR) 6-13 Panionios GSS (GRE)
CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) 22-9 CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (ROU)
Standings: 1. Panionios 6pts, 1. Tenerife 6pts, 3. Galatasaray 0pts, 3. Alba Iulia 0pts
Panionios, one of the top favourites to lift the trophy, staged back-to-back power demonstrations on the opening day.
First, they smashed Alba Iulia, then did the same with Galatasaray. What made their wins truly remarkable was their outstanding defence.
With veteran Hungarian goalkeeper Edina Gangl in charge – a European champion in 2016 – Panionios held the Romanians to two goals in the morning session and conceded just once against Galatasaray in the first half in the evening.
Against Alba Iulia, the Greeks worked with discipline, led 1-5 at half-time, and waited for the moment to finish off their gradually tiring opponents – it came in the third.
They netted five straight goals, all from action, and added four more in the final quarter before the Romanians scored their second with 1:06 remaining.
Galatasaray fared no better. After a tough, high-scoring morning match against Tenerife, which they lost badly at the end (see below), it was no surprise they began to fade after a relatively balanced opening period, where Panionios took a 1-3 lead.
The Greeks produced a 0-4 run in the second quarter and surged to a 1-9 advantage before the Turks could score again, after more than 16 minutes.
Panionios’ grip softened slightly late in the third when they conceded two, though they still led 4-11 before the fourth.
They endured an unusually long drought and scored only after three and a half minutes, but their win was never in danger. Their total of conceded goals – eight in two matches – sends a strong message ahead of the medal round.
As Tenerife also bagged six points, the Spaniards, alongside Panionios, have already secured their places in the semifinals. On Friday, only the top spot will be at stake in their meeting.
The Spanish side had a flying start against Galatasaray and led 6-1 just 69 seconds into the second period. However, they perhaps eased off too early and did not score in the remaining seven minutes until half-time, while the Turks netted twice to keep their hopes alive at 6-3 at the break.
Tenerife found their scoring touch again and moved 9-4 ahead deep into the third, but Galatasaray’s Russian duo, Elvira Ermakova and Elizaveta Ivanova, led a late surge that brought the Istanbul side back to 10-8 with eight minutes remaining.
The fourth period began in stunning fashion: Tenerife scored twice in 38 seconds, Galatasaray responded with a double in 36 – all from action – keeping the game open at 12-10 with 5:15 on the clock.
However, the Spaniards’ next wave decided the outcome, as they produced three unanswered goals and, with 3:05 remaining, there was no way back for the Turkish side at 15-10. The gap remained unchanged until the end.
Later in the evening, Tenerife made their intentions clear from the very start against Alba Iulia. They stormed into a 6-0 lead within the opening six minutes, while the Romanian side struggled to respond and only managed to score with just 15 seconds left in the period – even missing a penalty earlier.
At 9-3, an unusual moment occurred when Maryn Dempsey was ejected for four minutes for violent conduct.
Despite this being a potential lifeline for Alba Iulia, they failed to capitalise, even missing another penalty.
Tenerife quickly regrouped with a time-out and, in the minutes that followed, highlighted the gap in quality between the two sides.
They scored first during the power play and limited their opponents to just one goal, meaning the four-minute stretch ended evenly at one goal each, with Tenerife leading 10-4 at half-time.
Back at full strength, Tenerife continued to dominate. They added seven more goals in the third period and ultimately reached a commanding total of 22 by the final buzzer.
Group B
Smile Cosenza Pallanuoto (ITA) 15-12 CN Sant Feliu (ESP)
ZAVK Mladost (CRO) 9-13 NC Chania (GRE)
Standings: 1. Chania 3pts, 1. Cosenza 3pts, 3. Sant Feliu 0pts, 3. Mladost 0pts
Iva Rozic was a class above the rest in Cosenza’s opener against Sant Feliu. She made her mark in the opening period, scoring five goals to put the Italians 6-2 up after eight minutes.
The Croatian international continued her outstanding display in the second period, adding two more, with her seventh stretching the gap to seven goals at 10-3, well before the halfway mark.
The Spaniards managed to add two more shortly before the break, but still trailed by five (11-6).
After an early exchange of goals in the third, Cosenza still led 12-7, but with only 10 field players available, they began to show signs of fatigue.
The Italians survived two woman-down situations but failed to convert their next six-on-five, and Sant Feliu kept pushing, scoring three in a row – including two in the last 46 seconds – to close to 12-10.
Federica Morrone hit the post from a penalty 51 seconds into the fourth, but the Spaniards were unable to capitalise.
Two minutes later, a fine action goal from Anneliese Miller ended their nine-minute scoring drought, and Rozic finally netted her eighth from a six-on-five for 14-10 with 4:23 to go – effectively ending the Spaniards’ comeback.
With 59 seconds remaining, they reduced the deficit to three, but that was as close as they could get.
In Group B’s other clash, Chania made a strong start with two action goals and a converted penalty to take a 0-3 lead against Mladost.
Ria Glas struck twice in 25 seconds to put the Croats on the scoreboard, then Eleni Paterou converted her second penalty, but her team-mate Christina Kotsia took their next 5m shot – and it was well saved by Sara Frketic, setting the first-quarter score at 2-4.
This did little to slow the Greeks, who started the second period with the same intensity and produced another 0-3 run to move 2-7 up.
Glas sparked another Mladost comeback attempt, but the gap remained at three at half-time, with Chania leading 5-8.
The Greeks showed their defensive quality in the third, killing four of five woman-downs. That proved more than enough despite scoring only twice in the period, as they kept the Croats at bay and extended their lead to 6-10 before the fourth.
Chania then managed the remaining eight minutes well, never allowing Mladost to come within three goals, and secured three valuable points.
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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
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