Győri Audi ETO KC has saved her position on the top of Group 1 thanks to the home victory against RK Krim Mercator Ljubljana in the ultimate round of Main Round on 10th of March. The first half showed a very tough game, but the girls in green and white were able to take the thing in hand and won the match by 9 goals.
Ambros Martín’s team will face Buducnost Podgorica in the quarter-final phase of the WOMEN’s EHF Champions League.
Final result: 34-25
1st half
Ljubljana quickly jumped to a 3:0 lead after only four minutes, but the home team managed to turn the game around thanks to improvement in the defence and the fantastic performance mostly of Oftedal and Groot, and the goalkeeper Kiss made a very good job too. Goals were scored shoulder by shoulder until the 21st minute of the match – thanks to the goals of Oftedal and Puhalák ETO gained 2 goals lead (9-7). Knedlikova contributed to the number of goals with one, Hansen with two goals – from pivot position!
After 30 minutes the halftime result was 17-12.
2nd half
The guest team could not come back in the second half, Győr dominated the game until the last moments of the match. Tomori has been punished three times with 2 minutes penalty, that’s why she got red card 9 minutes before the end. Ambros Martín has sent his young players to the court too who performed good – Fodor and Afentaler scored 2 and 1 goals – and prooved their talent before the enthusiastic audience.
Oftedal ended the match with 11 goals, Groot with 7 – but it was a real teamwork just like usual.
Final result: 34-25
Spectator attendance: 5172
Press conference
Uros Bregar: „We performed better than last year. I think we played a good match but I am a bit nervous because of Kari Grimsbö’s fantastic performance, who has caused big problems for us. We had good opportunities, and we enjoy always playing here. I am more satisfied, because we played better than home, but ETO is always two steps before us. Congratulation to Győr and good luck!”
Ambros Martín: „I think Krim was a very good opponent for us today, they wanted to fight and wanted to keep us under pressure. At the beginning of the match they made us very nervous, but we were focusing and we wanted to fix our defense. I would like to congratulate to Krim because of this good fight until the last moments. We are happy about the victory, but I think the most important is, that we could solve all the problems during the season. These players deserve the success because they work very hard for it. I don’t have words enough to say how proud I am because of the performance of my players.”
Stine Oftedal: „At the beginning it was very tough, but we stayed focused and tried to do the best to win this game. I am very happy because of the victory, I really enjoyed the game.”
