A day before the start of the national team’s preparations for the World Cup, three games of the French League were played.
Marseille cruised to a 17:7 victory over Pays d’Aix. Strasbourg beat Reims easily (15:8). Sete earned a narrow 9:8 win over Montpellier. Sete had a big lead in the first quarter, but it barely saved all three points, thanks to a last-gasp goal.
2022/23 French League, Day 15
Pays d’Aix – Marseille 7:17 (3:6, 1:5, 0:2, 3:4)
Pays d’Aix: Rocchietta 2, Khasz 2, Beteille 1, Dunstan 1, Vrdoljak 1.
Marseille: Crousillat 3, Bouet 3, Vernoux 2, Olivon 2, Izdinsky 2, Daube 2, De Nardi 1, Vukicevic 1, Vanpeperstraete 1.
Strasbourg – Reims 15:8 (4:2, 2:2, 6:3, 3:1)
Strasbourg:Popadic 3, Buha 3, Misic 3, Vitrant 2, Bachelier 1, Canovas 1, Petkovic 1, Mazmaniani 1.
Reims: Culina 2, Vix 1, Bulat 1, Solje 1, Babic 1, Missy 1, Lambert 1.
Montpellier – Sete 8:9 (1:5, 4:2, 0:0, 3:2)
Montpellier: Ivankovic 3, Dory 2, Piot 1, Vilcot Lambert 1, Ben Rohmdane 1.
Sete: Furman 3, Sauton 2, Tomic 2, Vujovic 1, Bofill 1.
Tourcoing – Noisy-le-Sec on March 22
Nice bye
After the second win in the Champions League (over Sabadell), Marseille sank Pays d’Aix. The visitors led from the beginning, but Aix kept up with the favorite in the first ten minutes. In the tenth minute, Pays d’Aix trailed by three goals (4:7). But, it couldn’t score in the following 16 minutes. Marseille produced a 7:0 run in that interval, jumped to 14:4 early in the fourth period and maintained the difference until the end.
Sete opened the match against Montpellier excellently. At the first break, Sete led 5:1 and had a 6:2 and 7:4 advantage in the second quarter. But, after that, Sete’s long goalless phase started. Montpellier made the most of it and equalized in the 27th minute. Dory netted for 7:7. Shortly after, Petar Tomic ended Sete’s silence which lasted for almost 18 minutes and made it 8:7. But, everything was still open. Ivankovic leveled at 5:5 with less than three minutes left on the clock. It looked like the match will be prolonged in a shootout. However, Tom Sauton converted a man-up six seconds before the buzzer and Sete secured a 9:8 victory.
Strasbourg controlled the game against Reims and, step-by-step built a 15:8 victory.
1.Marseille 14 games – 40 points
2.Noisy-le-Sec 13 – 34
3. Strasbourg 15 – 29
4. Tourcoing 12 – 24
5.Sete 13 – 20
6.Pays d’Aix 13 – 13
7.Montpelleir 13 – 10
8.Reims 13 – 9
9.Nice 14 – 1
