Courtesy: LEN
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.”